


To Have a Precious Few of Them Back

by Fanfiction_is_Literature



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Charles and Erik Have Feelings, Charles is a Troll, Charles is a babe, Don't worry I fix everything, Erik Has Feelings, Erik is a Big Dorkface, Erik is a Sweetheart, F/M, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, Honestly My Character Is Like Their Daughter More Than Anything, M/M, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-03-31 23:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3997966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfiction_is_Literature/pseuds/Fanfiction_is_Literature
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexandra Blanche (an Original Character of mine) goes back in time by pure accident to find Charles and Erik just a few days before the Cuban Missile Crisis. With her knowledge of the future, she attempts to right things before they go too wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive me for any problems you might find. Please.

There was screaming, all around her. 

She couldn’t tell where she was going, there was too much destruction.

She felt scared and cold, she just wanted to get out of there.

“LEXI!” Someone was screaming. For a minute, it grounded her and she wrapped herself in the familiarity of the sound until a solid being was up against her.

She looked at whatever it was, hoping she could remember something. 

“REESE!” She screamed, the only thing she could remember. She clutched onto the warmth radiating from him.

“Lexi, you have to get us out of here.” His voice in her ear was the only thing she could hear for a moment.

“Take us anywhere else, please. Lex, you have to hurry up!” He sounded panicked.

All at once there were too many voices, all of them screaming. She couldn’t hear them with her ears, they were in her head. She grabbed at her hair and joined them in their screaming.

“LEXI?!” Reese was suddenly flung through the air.

“I’m sorry! They won’t get out! GET OUT!” She couldn’t take the pain, all of their suffering. She passed out just as she saw him running toward her in desperation.

~

Charles woke to a frantic knocking at the door. He turned to look at the time, and seeing that it was half past two in the morning he groaned and alerted Hank, reaching out with his telepathy.

 _Hank, could you be a darling and get the door?_ Hank responded with a mental roll of his eyes.

_You know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t know that you were already awake and passing by the door anyways._

Hank simply grumbled about Charles being lazy and “who would even come here this late at night?”

Before Hank could reach the door, Charles sent his telepathy outside to see who indeed would come to the mansion this late. 

_Hank be careful, I can’t quite make out who it is. It might be another telepath choosing to block me but it feels a bit like a void so be careful._

_You aren’t expecting anyone?_ Hank projected to him.

 _I’m afraid not._ Charles communicated along.

Hank was surprised to find a young man with dirty blond hair and brown eyes carrying a dark-haired girl when he opened the door.

“Umm, hey, what are you doing here?” Hank asked nervously.

“Please, is there a Charles Xavier here? She needs help!” The young man said panicking.

“What’s wrong with her? Please bring her in.” Hank opened the door to let them through.

“She’s been over-exerted. She started screaming about voices in her head and threw me across the room before she fainted.” He answered with worry etched into every word.

“Your head’s bleeding, I’ll get something to patch you up. Charles is on his way down already.” Hank said before running off to get the first-aid kit.

Charles had seen everything through Hank and as soon as he put on his robe, he went downstairs.

“What happened? I should be able to get into your heads but for some reason I can’t. What did she do?” He asked as he entered the room.

“She’s been working on mentally blocking other telepaths so she may have done so before she blacked out. She must be using a lot of her energy if she’s keeping you out of my head as well. She doesn’t want us to be found.” The young man answered while stroking some hair out of her face.

“Well, I could probably hack into your minds with a bit of effort, but I’m not sure what damage has been done and I wouldn’t want to startle her.” Charles explained. “We should probably start with introductions then. As you’ve probably already guessed, I’m Charles Xavier, and you are?”

“Right, yes of course. My name is Reese, and this is Alexandra.” Reese introduced. “We’ve been held captive by Stryker and it wasn’t until two days ago that we escaped. She hasn’t woken up since she fainted yesterday. I had to carry her the whole way here.”

“Why were you held captive?” Charles asked, kneeling down next to Alexandra’s head and feeling around her mental guards with his telepathy.

“She’s very special. In all actuality, she was the one being experimented on, I was simply put to protect her. It’s a bit strange to explain, I didn’t even know what was really happening there until a few days ago when she told me.” Charles could sense guilt and self-depreciation radiating off the young man as he spoke.

Charles nodded just as Hank came back into the room with a small white box. 

“Hey, I got what I’m gonna need so could you sit over here so it’s more comfortable for both of us while I clean the wound?” Hank asked, already setting up the kit on an end table.

“Of course, but what is wrong with her? She’s never gotten like this before and if I’m being perfectly honest, she’s been through quite a bit.” Reese replied, turning to Charles with the question.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Charles answered some-what distracted as he gently put two fingers on the young girls forehead to strengthen the connection and poke at her mental guard a bit to see if he could access some surface thoughts at least.

“Don’t worry,” Hank assured Reese. “If anyone can find out what’s wrong with her, it’s Charles. He’s a pretty powerful telepath. He’ll get her to wake up in no time.”

Reese just nodded, staring at Alexandra with worry.

“Her shields are strong, but they’ve been abused a bit. Why is that?” Charles asked, his eyes still closed and his forehead scrunched in effort.

“To practice, they put her in a room with a volunteer telepath that works with them. They’d be at it for hours sometimes, Lexi managed to get into the other guy’s head a few times but it always took a lot out of her and she’d go to sleep with a headache.” Reese explained.

Charles hummed in response, finally finding a little bit of wiggle room and sneaking his way into the young girl’s mind. “She had her own room. It’s blue and looks personalized. Alexandra liked it, she felt safe.”

“Yea, she grew up in that facility. Her mother was a mutant, not sure which abilities she had, but she was experimented on until she got pregnant with Lexi, then they kept her in observation and used Lexi for the experiments. They called her a “fresh start”. That’s why her name’s Alexandra, it means: “Defender of Mankind.” She was supposed to be powerful enough to fight back against other mutant threats.” Reese answered, wincing a bit as Hank poured rubbing alcohol on his wound.

“Umm, Reese?” Hank asked with confusion. “You’re wound is healing itself.”

“Good, I don’t particularly like the feel of stitches and it feels weird when my wounds heal while I have them.” Reese said casually.

“So you have a regenerative healing factor?” Hank said with fascinated puzzlement.

Reese chuckled at that. “Sometimes.”

“What does that-” Hank was cut off by a small sound escaping Alexandra’s lips and Reese running back to her side.

“Lexi?” he asked. “Lexi, c’mon it’s time to get up. You’ve been asleep for a day and a half. I had to lug your lazy butt over here. You have to wake up. C’mon Lexi, please.”

Hank felt a bit awkward hearing the young man’s voice crack at the last word. Charles simply kept focusing on getting the young girl to wake up from her self-imposed comatose state.

Charles flinched back at the same moment that Alexandra startled awake and everything in the room started shaking.

“Calm down, I need you to calm down Alexandra.” Charles said, trying to keep his voice leveled but he was fascinated all the same.

“Who are you? Where am I?” Her voice filled with power but a trickle of her fear could still be detected, especially with her projecting it to everyone in the room.

“My name is Charles Xavier, you are in my home.” Charles tried to explain calmly, looking into her eyes. They were a striking green color. “Reese brought you here while you were unconscious.”

“Reese?” Alexandra visibly relaxed when she focused those amazing eyes at the man in question and the furniture calmed. 

“I’m here.” Reese said softly.

With a small smile, Alexandra sat up and turned to Charles. 

“You’re too young to be Charles Xavier,” She looked at him with caution. “And the Professor never had any children either. Well, at least none of his own.”

“What are you talking about? I am Charles Xavier.” Charles replied somewhat confused.

Suddenly he felt someone trying to pry into his mind, but her ability was weak and he was quite powerful. Either way, he let her into his mind so that she may find what she needed, but still guarding the things he did not wish to share.

“See?” Charles said both aloud and in her head.

“This isn’t right.” Alexandra’s forehead scrunched in worry. “We must be in a different timeline but I’m not sure how.”

“Time travel?” Hank asked skeptically.

“She has a unique ability to travel to different dimensions and, well, timelines sometimes.” Reese explained. “She doesn’t have much practice with it, the people that experimented on her tried to take it away but it was the mutation that she was born with and they couldn’t take it without undoing all of their other work.”

“What do you mean their ‘other work’?” Charles asked.

“Well, Stryker has been trying to make an ‘Ultimate Mutant’ if you will.” Reese continued. “With all the problems being caused by the mutant wars- umm, well I can’t tell you about those. You don’t have them yet. Stryker found a way to give the abilities of dead mutants to Lexi.”

“What mutant wars?” Hank asked.

“Well I’m not sure if I should alter the timeline, if we’re even in the same one. You might not even have them.” Reese tried again.

“In the future, whether it’s yours or someone else’s,” Alexandra explained. “There is a war going on among the mutants. Those who want to destroy humanity and those who wish to co-exist happily. I won’t tell you who the leaders are because it might change what happens, depending on who we meet here.”

“Why would mutants fight each other? Isn’t there a middle ground? A third option?” Hank asked.

“Well of course there is, but despite what they might have you think, mutants are just advanced humans. Humans fight amongst themselves. Mutants fight amongst themselves. It’s in our nature to seek conflict, especially with our own.” Alexandra explained.

“That can’t be true.” Charles replied. “Peace can be achieved if only the mutant supremists of the future would see that there is no reason to wage a war against humanity.”

A sudden realization hit Hank. This was how they knew Charles and where he lived. Charles was the one fighting for peace, even in the future.

A small smile graced Alexandra’s face and she turned to look at Reese. “We can change the future. We can speak to him before he does anything that he can’t take back.”

“And who is ‘he’?” Charles asked politely.

“Umm,” Reese said awkwardly. “Well, I’m not gonna be the one to tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Charles asked a bit confused.

“Nothing.” Alexandra said with a smile. “We don’t even know if he’s dangerous yet.”

“He was always dangerous, Lexi.” Reese muttered.

“He could always read your minds to find out what you’re talking about.” Hank offered. 

“He won’t do it, Alexandra’s guards are better when she is conscious anyways.” Reese replied easily.

“What makes you so sure that I wouldn’t?” Charles asked curious.

“Because you’re different now than you will be.” Alexandra said getting up. 

Charles sighed in frustration. He could sense her guards being put back up around her mind and Reese’s.

He was relatively powerful but he could do with more practice. She was trained to keep out a telepath and she was powerful enough to keep him out of someone else’s head too.

“I know this is frustrating, but I’ll tell you everything in time. First, I want to know when I am and who you’ve met so far. You know Hank McCoy already which means that you already know Alex Summers and Sean Cassidy.” Alexandra observed. “Where’s Mystique? I’d like to speak with her.” 

“You mean Raven?” Hank asked a little excited.

“Oh, yea… Raven.” Alexandra said thoughtfully.

“What about her? What does she do in the future?” Hank asked eagerly.

Seeing Alexandra’s closed expression and Reese’s agitated state, Charles cut in. “We can speak about this in the morning. You may search through my memories to know what year you’re in while Hank sets up a room for you. Is that all right Hank?”

“Of course… Right, yea…” Hank said awkwardly excusing himself from the room to set up a place for them to sleep.

“Can we share a room?” Alexandra asked a little hesitant.

“I would prefer if you didn’t but-” Charles started.

“I usually sleep in a chair in her room or on the floor. You don’t need to fix more than one bed.” Reese interrupted.

Charles could feel the protectiveness and sincerity radiating off him. Alexandra’s guards not fully up.

“Alright. Hank?” Charles called.

“Yea I heard, I’ll get them set up.” He awkwardly replied before setting off.

When Hank was gone, Charles allowed Alexandra to look through his recent memories. He snuck into her mind while her guards were down and saw small glimpses of long needles and men in white coats. He accidentally felt through a dark corner in her mind, which had them both pulling back with a scream.

“What did you do?!” Reese growled at him, clutching Alexandra and holding her close.

Charles could still faintly feel the painful sensations all along his body. Burning, poking, and cutting.

“I’m so sorry.” Charles said. He hadn’t meant for her to relive the experience but the pain was horrible and he couldn’t help projecting it to her when she was still in his mind.

Alexandra withdrew from Reese’s arms and moved to sit next to Charles. 

“It’s all right.” She soothed, which was wrong. Charles was the one that had caused her pain, not the other way around. “That’s why I didn’t want you in my head. I know how it feels.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” Charles felt like an intruder. He had gone into her mind without her consent.

“Yes, you will. But only when I’m ready.” It was a reprimand but also like a promise. There was something sweet in her voice.

“The room is ready.” Hank interrupted as he entered the room.

“Good. Show them to it then.” Charles was slightly spooked by something he couldn’t explain and withdrew his presence from the room.

~

Explaining the presence of two new people at the mansion to the children was easier than Charles had anticipated. They spent their time in their room, so Sean stopped by to say hello, leaving with a stutter and a dazed expression that took Alex’s attention away from Hank for the day and left him teasing Sean for being weird.

“She’s beautiful! Have you seen her? She’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.” Sean always sounded a little bit stoned but he was really out of it.

Alex hadn’t seen the girl, Alexandra apparently, but he’d managed to get a word with Reese who, even he had to admit, was pretty hot.

Raven wasn’t interested much in Alexandra who didn’t leave her room at all, but she did a double-take when she saw Reese in a tank top and low-hanging sweats taking a cup of tea up the stairs and disappearing into the room.

Hank was a little bit miserable with all the attention that the two new mutants were getting, and the fact that they had invisible mutations left him even more insecure than before, especially Reese.

Erik was more than a little bit curious as to what their abilities were. Charles still hadn’t told him about their past (Charles didn’t know much about it himself) but mutations fascinated Erik and he set out to find out what theirs were by the end of the day.

~

“What made you choose to let them share a room?” Erik asked Charles while they stood outside.

“He would have just gone to her room anyways and it was early in the morning. I didn’t want Hank to set up a room that wouldn’t be used when he was already tired.” Charles replied simply.

“Why are they spending the day in the room? I haven’t seen either of them yet.” Erik said, leaning back on the wall outside.

“They’ve had a long trip.” Charles replied with a smirk. “C’mon, let’s get back to practice.”

~

After a day’s work of practicing, it was dinnertime. Charles was going to send Sean, but Alex started laughing and Charles made him head upstairs instead. 

Alex knocked on the door, which was opened by Reese. Reese was actually pretty tall, probably six foot one or two. Nothing very extraordinary about the brown color of his eyes but he had a handsome face with a straight nose and straight teeth. A small blond curl fell over his right eye and Alex blinked at him. 

“Hey, I’m Alex. Dinner’s ready.” He grumbled. “You should come downstairs. You should probably be properly introduced.”

“You’re absolutely right. Lexi and I will be down in a minute, and we’ll apologize if we’ve been rude.” Reese smiled at him.

“Yea, well I think Sean cooked so _we_ apologize for that.” Alex replied with a smirk before he turned to leave.

When he got downstairs, they all turned to look at him.

“Did you see her? Isn’t she the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” Sean asked.

Hank stuttered a little mutter and flushed pink as he looked at Raven.

“I didn’t see her. They’ll be down in a minute and they’re sorry if they were rude.” Alex growled out, sitting down at the table.

Erik kept quiet during the small conversation that started as they all sat down but he hissed when Sean accidentally pushed a mug of hot coffee on him in his rush to stand up when the two new mutants walked into the room.

“Alexandra!” He practically squealed.

Erik spent a good minute glaring at Sean until the idiot finally felt someone burning a hole in his back, noticed Erik’s expression with a look of terror, and inched away.

“Sorry about not coming down sooner.” A sweet, feminine voice caught Erik’s attention and saw a short young girl that looked of about sixteen, possibly not even five feet tall, with pale skin as if she never went outdoors, large, insightful green eyes, and long dark hair covering her back. She had a well-developed figure and she wore a strangely unfeminine outfit of a grey t-shirt with tight dark-wash jeans and converse. 

“That’s quite all right.” Charles said with a smile. “It is time that you be introduced, you’ve already met Hank and I, so Alexandra and Reese, meet Raven, Alex, Sean, and Erik.”

“Great to meet you.” Sean said smoothly leaving his hand out to shake. This would have worked well if Charles couldn’t feel nervousness and excitement oozing out of him in waves. He was also pretty sure that Alexandra could hear the mantra of things such as _you’re beautiful, marry me, I’ll have your babies._

Charles coughed a bit when Sean didn’t let go of her hand right away and Reese looked just about ready to cut Sean’s hand off.

Alexandra gave Sean a smile and a nod when Sean let go.

“I’m the one that went to get you for dinner so you already know that I’m Alex. Alex Summers.” Alex said coolly. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alex.” Alexandra smiled at him. “You can all call me Lexi since the name Alex is apparently already taken.”

Raven coolly stretched her hand and gave Reese a flirty smile as she introduced herself and welcomed them that left Charles wincing a bit for poor Hank who was left grumbling at his bowl.

Erik was excited to introduce himself. Once they were introduced they could share what their abilities were. He allowed a small smile to grace his lips and he stuck his hand out to Reese first.

“I don’t need to tell you who I am.” He said confidently. “The only name left is Erik.”

Reese stared at the hand for a moment too long before taking it with a bit of hesitation. _odd._

“Pleasure.” Reese said tightly.

Erik could feel his face turning into a glare at the man’s rudeness before Alexandra stepped in front of Reese and gave him a toothy smile that beamed almost as much as Charles’ did and seemed completely genuine. 

“Hello!” She said excitedly, shaking his hand with a small delicate one.

“Hello.” Erik was thoroughly confused at their reactions.

“You’re extremely handsome.” She said with a little bit of wonder in her eyes but a blush tingeing her cheeks.

“Thank you.” He said awkwardly.

It wasn’t until she took back her hand that he realized that he’d been squeezing a bit tight.

Instead of glaring at Erik as Reese had done with Sean, Reese physically pulled Alexandra to him in a way that could only be described as protective.

Dinner was pleasant enough with light conversation and the children getting to know each other better. Erik still had to find out what the abilities of the two new mutants were and he devised a plan.

~

When Lexi asked where the bathroom was and excused herself, Erik had already finished eating and waited for her to come out.

“Hello,” he said politely. “I see you found the restroom just fine.”

She giggled a bit. “Well obviously.”

Erik smiled at her. “Does your mutation help with that?”

“My abilities help with a lot of things, I suppose finding a bathroom would be one of them.” She said easily. 

_She’s strong, confident, smart._ He thought.

“And what might that ability be?” He asked coyly.

Her smile grew. “I said ‘abilities.’ Which one are you asking about?”

_More than one?_

“All of them.” He was confused but he never showed it.

“I’ll show you one. Just one. You have to show me yours.” Her smile was from ear to ear and there was mischief in her tone but he thought it fair to show her his.

Erik nodded and brought a metal statue from off a table to him using his ability.

“That’s lame.” She giggled.

_What?_

“Excuse me?” Erik asked a little sharply, but she was unfazed with her laughter.

He glared at her. 

Nothing. Not even a small wince.

Well he knew he wasn’t losing his touch, even Alex backed off from his glares.

She was just- well she was special.

“I’m sorry.” She said still smiling. “It’s not your mutation that’s lame. It’s how you demonstrated it. You can do more, I know you can.”

_Well, that’s different._

He stopped glaring and gave her a smile and a nod. “What would you like me to do then?”

“How good are you at shaping things?” She asked, smile still beaming at him.

“What?” 

“Have you ever tried to shape something with your mutation? Like make art with it?” She asked sincerely.

“Why would I do that?” 

“Because art is a form of expression. You’re a very angry person and you need to let it out somehow.”

“What makes you think that I’m an angry person? We’ve only just met.”

 _Because it radiates off you in waves_. She projected into his mind.

_Not another telepath. Get out of my head!_

“You’re a hypocrite.” All lightness in her voice changed to something powerful and dark.

“Excuse me?” Erik was more than a little bit offended.

“I’m sorry, that was mean.” She said shaking herself off, her tone apologetic. “I’ll stay out of your head, like Charles does.”

Erik just stared at her.

“Reese will be wondering where I am. You can show me your mutation better later.” She said before she walked off.

~

“Ah, there you are!” Charles said delighted when Alexandra entered the living room. “We’ve decided to play some monopoly since Sean packed it in his suitcase and brought it with him. Care to join us?”

“I’m feeling a bit tired, but could I stay to watch?” She replied.

“If you’re tired we should head to sleep.” Reese interrupted.

“I’m tired, not sleepy. I’d like to stay with company for a bit.” She gave him a small smile.

Erik came into the room just then, standing behind Sean just to make him nervous. 

Sean was sitting between Reese and Alex, Alex was sitting next to Hank, and Hank was sitting next to Charles who was sitting next to Reese. Alexandra had perched herself in a seat behind Charles and Reese while Raven sat behind Hank and Charles.

“Erik! Lovely, you can play.” Charles said, scooting closer to Alex so that Erik would sit next to him. 

“I’ll just watch.” Erik grumbled.

“You’re just gonna watch a bunch of kids play? Isn’t that creepy in a man your age?” Sean asked with a smile that withered once he saw Erik’s expression.

“You would be the only one actually considered a child, everyone else here is older than twenty.” Erik replied with a sigh.

“I’m eighteen.” Alexandra pitched in to Sean’s defense.

“But you’re not a child. I can see it in your eyes.” Erik stared hard at her, she stared right back with the same intensity, neither of them willing to blink first.

That is, until Charles cleared his throat.

“If Erik doesn’t want to play he doesn’t have to. We have five players already.” Charles said as he finished setting up the board.

They played for a few hours, and even Erik had to admit that it was pleasant to see the children relaxing rather than training. Raven of course ended up winning, she has a good head on her shoulders and Charles would have been her only competition but he distracted himself with conversation and made poor decisions.

All in all, Erik felt a feeling of content pass through him. Ever since he had met Charles, he had felt better than he could ever remember feeling since he met Shaw.

Every now and then he could feel Reese turning to look at him with a wary expression but it didn’t matter much to him.

~

Alexandra and Reese helped the other kids to practice their abilities but Erik had yet to find out what Reese’s ability actually was. Reese was very helpful in getting Alex to focus his ability though. Erik tried throwing a random trinket at Reese but he had simply rubbed his arm in agitation and glared at Erik. An impressive expression that had obviously been perfected over the years.

Charles found out about Erik’s curiosity apparently because Erik was screaming (or at least the mental equivalent of it) in his head out of frustration of not knowing.

“You’ll know in time, my friend.” Charles said softly while they played chess. “They might be with us for a while, they don’t have anywhere else to go.”

_Yea… about that._

“Where did they come from?” Erik asked furrowing his brow. “You said no one would be able to find us and yet they apparently did and they know who you are.”

Charles shifted in his seat. “They say they are from the future. Alexandra, or Lexi, I don’t know what you’ve been calling her, can travel or create different dimensions and timelines.”

“Why don’t they go home? To their own timeline.” Erik asked, taking Charles’ bishop with his rook.

“She doesn’t know how.” Charles explained. “She doesn’t even know how or why she brought them back in time to us.”

“So you’re going to help her control her mutation and then they go back? How do they even know you?” Erik asked with concern. He knows Charles is a great man, but for more than a few select people to know that he’s a mutant scares Erik. 

_Identification, that’s how it starts. And ends with being rounded up, experimented on and eliminated._

“Erik, calm down. Please. I’ve already told you, that isn’t going to happen.” Charles said, leaning in a bit.

“I thought you were going to stay out of my head.” Erik said defensively.

“Yes, well your anger was projecting rather loudly I’m afraid.” Charles said with a small comforting smile. His smiles always loosened something in Erik’s chest.

“So what did they say about the future?” Erik asked to move on with the conversation.

“They said that mutants fight amongst each other. Humans are caught in the middle quite often. They aren’t very happy about that apparently.” Charles said somewhat awkwardly but he wasn’t going to lie to Erik.

“What do they do to the mutants that they get their hands on?” Erik asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

“If there is peace with the humans, if there is peace among mutants then there would be no need for humans to find a way to defend themselves. _That_ is what the humans are doing. We can co-exist peacefully.” Charles defended.

“Charles, open your eyes. Human’s will experiment on mutants whether we fight amongst ourselves or not.” Erik could almost lose his calm.

“Erik,” Charles voice was a pleading whisper. “Please, try to understand.”

Alexandra came into the room at that moment, having been drawn to the conversation by her telepathy.

“Erik’s right.” She cut in. “No matter what happens, mutants will be experimented on.”

“You’re not helping, Alexandra.” Charles said, leaning away from Erik and settling into his chair.

“What Erik forgets- or rather, seems to, is that it wasn’t humans that experimented on him.” She said looking straight at the man in question.

“And what do you know about it?” Erik practically growled.

“Not a lot.” Alexandra admitted. “What I do know is that Shaw is a mutant and he experimented on his own kind. You take your anger out on the humans even though Shaw, a mutant, caused it. He’s the one that killed your mother.”

Everything metal in the room twitched.

“Alexandra, please.” Charles warned.

“I’m sorry, Professor.” She said looking to him. “If you let Erik kill Shaw then the world will burn. It will suffer.”

“What are you talking about?” Charles asked, all the while telepathically begging Erik to calm himself down.

“You don’t know what he does to you!” Something inside of her started screaming.

“I would never hurt Charles!” Erik yelled defensively. The metal in the room vibrating, and if Charles was correct, it wasn’t just the metal in the room but of the whole mansion.

Alexandra started screaming, her head aching like someone had stabbed it.

“Erik, what are you doing?” Charles asked with panic in his eyes.

The metal in the room stopped shaking and Erik shook his head at Charles.

“Alexandra, what’s wrong?” Charles asked running to her side.

“I’m sorry.” She said weakly. “I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you.”

With that she stumbled out of the room, still holding her head in pain.

“I wouldn’t harm you, Charles.” Erik said with a small voice, very unlike him but he was still visibly panicked.

“It’s all right, my friend.” Charles reassured him. “We can’t be certain that she’s from our timeline, or even our dimension.”

Of course Charles knew that she was, otherwise she couldn’t know so much about all of them.

“Right, of course.” Erik said, pulling himself back together. “Shall we finish our game?”

~

“Hank? What are you doing?” Alexandra asked as she walked into the lab.

“I’m working on a serum to help me hide my mutation.” Hank replied completely absorbed in his work.

“Your mutation is amazing, Hank. You don’t need to hide.” She said with a small frown.

“You wouldn’t understand. Your mutations are invisible, you don’t have to hide yourself away from a society that will never accept you.” Hank said with a shake of his head.

“I wouldn’t understand?” She asked skeptically. “Hank, my mutation may be invisible but even so I was exploited and experimented on. The only thing that you are concerned about is how you look to other people. You shouldn’t care what anybody else thinks, and we are our harshest critics. You’re blinded and you can’t see how beautiful you are.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to do this.” Hank replied, refusing to look her in the eye. “Besides, I’m not trying to get rid of my mutation. I just want to look normal.”

“Hank, look at me.” She said, softly touching his face and forcing him to look her in her big, green eyes. “Where I come from, everyone is trying hard not to be. You don’t need to be normal, you just need to accept yourself as you are. It’s the only way that you’ll ever be happy and happiness should always have priority over trying to be normal and especially over whatever anybody else thinks.”

He turned his face away and she let him go.

“Please, just think about what I said?” She asked softly before exiting the room.

~

In the next few days they made excellent progress in their training. The day that Charles helped Erik move the satellite to face him, the President made his address.

Erik was still baffled by what had happened in Charles’ study the other day with Alexandra when they had been playing chess. What had he done to Charles in another life?

That night, he and Charles played chess in the study again. Erik looked forward to his games with Charles, the closeness and the privacy made it almost feel as though he could read Charles’ mind back, especially with the conversations that they tended to have.

“No, Charles.” Erik said, moving closer to look into those blue eyes. “Are you really so naïve as to think they won’t battle their own extinction? Or is it arrogance?

Charles looked at Erik in disagreement and shook his head lightly. “I am sorry.”

“After tomorrow, they are going to turn on us. But you are blinded because you believe they are all like Moira.” Erik moved his chair a bit closer to settle in.

“And you believe they are all like Shaw.” Charles said as he leaned forward. “Listen to me very carefully, my friend: killing Shaw will not bring you peace.”

Erik leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his drink. “Peace was never an option.”

Reese came into the room just then and Erik barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Charles asked, focus completely taken away from Erik.

“It’s Lexi,” Reese said, worrying his lip. “She wants to speak with you.”

Charles excused himself from his game with Erik, telling him he would be back and left the study with Reese.

Erik allowed himself a moment to sigh and downed his drink in one gulp.

~

The next morning they found Hank’s lab in disarray. They put on the uniforms that he had left and headed out to the plane.

After a bumpy start with Hank almost choking Erik to death when he made a small comment on Hank’s new enhanced mutation, they gathered into the plane and set off for Cuba.

After Charles convinced the Russian officer to blow up one of their own ships which was about to cross the line, Erik lifted Shaw’s submarine out of the water and onto the beach.

When they crash-landed, Alexandra’s seatbelt got loose and she was thrown out of the plane out onto the beach and was left unconscious. 

In a fit of rage, Reese raced out of the plane and sent a fireball at Riptide and the mutant caught on fire.

“So that’s what he can do.” Erik said laughing a little with Charles still on top of him from when he had bodily thrown himself over the blue-eyed man to stick them both onto the plane.

Charles allowed a small puff of laughter to escape his lips as he rolled over to get off Erik. 

Soon Erik was running inside of the sub while Alex, Sean, and Hank took on Azazel and Angel.

Reese took Alexandra back inside of the plane while Charles communicated with Erik telepathically. Charles was more than a little bit surprised when her wounds started healing themselves just as Reese’s had done before.

“It’s a long story.” Reese said with a meaningful look.

“You can tell me later then.” Charles replied distracted with a nod before he continued telling Erik that he still couldn’t access Shaw’s mind while Erik was being thrown about by Shaw.

“I have to get to Shaw!” Alexandra groaned, suddenly running out of the plane with Reese in tow.

“Lexi, maybe this has to happen!” Reese grabbed her and held her back, hearing Charles screaming at Erik: “Don’t do this, Erik!”

Alexandra struggled against him for a few minutes, hearing Charles begging for Erik to stop, before shoving him off with her telekinesis. 

“NO!” She was just about to run in when she heard Charles screaming in pain.

They both turned around and Charles collapsed to the floor of the plane. 

Shortly after, Erik- no, Magneto- Magneto came out with the helmet on his head and a dead Shaw bleeding out of his forehead, being lifted out with Erik’s ability.

Magneto gave a speech that Alexandra could hardly listen to. She was swamped with guilt over not being fast enough and dropped to her knees in the sand, barely holding back tears at her own failure. 

She came back to her senses when she saw Charles and Erik caught in a physical struggle.

“You said you would never hurt him!” She screamed. It gave Erik pause and he got up, leaving a groaning Charles on the sand.

Just then, Moira came out of nowhere with a gun and started shooting. Erik deflected a bullet and Charles let out a piercing scream.

All of the missiles that had been aimed at them exploded as Erik ran to Charles on his back and lifted him onto his knees.

“I am so sorry.”

Alexandra used her telekinesis to throw Moira into the water and set her eyes on Erik. 

Everyone stepped a bit closer in action.

“I said back off!” Erik yelled, pushing all of men away by the metal on their uniforms.

“Get away from him.” Alexandra said, all of her power mirroring in her voice.

“I’m getting the bullet out.” Erik growled, unafraid.

“The bullet you put there.” Alexandra stepped closer and Erik was ready to throw her but she kept herself firmly rooted as he tried.

“It was Moira’s fault.” Erik said, looking once again to Charles.

“She didn’t do this, Erik. You did.” Charles said softly, trying to get through to Erik.

“It would have hit his spine.” Alexandra yelled at Erik. “In another timeline, one where I’m not here to deflect it away into his leg, you leave him paralyzed. He can’t walk and it’s your entire fault.”

“Alexandra, please.” Charles whimpered in pain.

“I’m sorry, Charles. I wasn’t fast enough to deflect it completely away from you.” She said, crouching down facing Erik.

“It’s alright. Thank you, I know it couldn’t have been easy.” Charles said looking up at her with pain in his big blue eyes.

Erik felt a pang of guilt. 

“Us turning on each other, it’s what they want. I tried to warn you, Charles. I want you by my side. We’re brothers, you and I. All of us together, protecting each other. We want the same thing.” Erik said apologetically. Shaking him a little as he spoke as if he could shake him into understanding.

Charles gave Erik a look of pure pain and sadness that almost floored him before answering with a bitter chuckle. “Oh my friend, I’m sorry, but we do not.”

Erik took a long stare into Charles eyes, searching for a different answer but found none. He looked a second longer to remember those eyes that stared at him with such intensity they could almost convince him to change. 

Eyes that could light up Erik’s world with a look but also held immense sorrow in them and wisdom beyond Charles’ years.

Moira came back soaking from the water and Erik signaled for her to look after Charles before he got up and let him fall back into her arms. He felt the bitterness of what that meant. 

He pointed away, whether to Moira or the soldiers in the water, he couldn’t be sure. “Their society won’t accept us. We form our own. The humans have played their hand, now we get ready to play ours.” 

Tears were forming in his eyes at the loss he felt over Charles. But he couldn’t change and Charles would spend his life with Moira, fighting for humanity that would never truly accept him and his kind.

“Who’s with me?” Erik asked. After a moment’s pause, he held his hand out to Raven. She understood what it was like to hide and he had helped her find a pride in her natural blue form. He was almost certain that she at least would join him.

“No more hiding.” He said.

She limped toward him and for a moment he almost felt relief that he wouldn’t have to be alone. Not after losing Charles. But she simply looked at him on her way to crouch over her surrogate brother and his heart fell. 

Erik was forced to see Charles in pain again. 

“You should go with him. It’s what you want.” Charles said, bravely trying to conceal his pain knowing that Raven wouldn’t leave him if she though he was seriously injured.

“You promised me you would never read my mind.”

Charles blinked at her. “I know. I promised you a great many things I’m afraid. I’m sorry.”

He grabbed her hand and kissed it. She gave him a small kiss on the head in return. 

“Take care of him.” She said to Moira before taking Erik’s hand and standing up with him.

Angel, Janos, and Azazel proceeded to follow her footsteps and the five of them held hands.

“Stop!” Alexandra screamed.

Erik turned to look at her. “Are you coming?” 

She actually scoffed at him.

“You’re going to leave him bleeding on a beach with no way to get home?” She asked skeptically.

Erik looked around uncomfortably.

“When I come from, you did the same thing and Mystique made the same choice. I wasn’t here to deflect the bullet. You left him here to the mercy of those humans that you have made very clear that you don’t trust.” Alexandra told him with fury in her voice.

“Things are different now from how they were in your timeline.” Erik said, but he could feel Raven ready to let him go.

“She’s right, Erik.” Raven interrupted. “They don’t have a way home.”

“I’m sure the CIA will take care of them.” Erik tried to appease her.

“The CIA almost had us all killed, _including_ Charles!” Alexandra yelled at him.

“Lexi, this won’t change anything.” Reese interrupted. “Erik will always be Magneto, just as Hank was destined to always be Beast.”

“You actually use that name?” Raven asked Erik with a small smile playing at her lips. “You realize we were drunk and maybe even a little high when we chose it.”

Azazel had the nerve to snort and Erik suddenly felt very offended. 

“What do you suggest I do, Alexandra?” Erik asked annoyed.

“Get your boyfriend to a hospital!” She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Reese grabbed her by the arm at their shocked faces. “Lexi, we’re in the sixties.”

“Oh… oh, yea. Right.” She stumbled over herself sputtering apologies for a minute while the others tensed at what Erik’s reaction would be.

He silenced her with a look and wave of his hand and carried Charles bridal style.

“Erik put me down, please.” Charles said annoyed.

“You’re injured.” Erik said, looking down fondly at Charles in his arms.

“I can still limp, you don’t need to carry me.” Charles said defensively.

“Can you take us to a hospital?” He asked Azazel.

“Da.” Azazel replied in his thick Russian accent and they were gone.

“Wait,” Sean said flapping his uniforms wings a bit. “But what about us?”

Hank sighed and walked over to see how much damage had been done to the plane.

“I suppose now we wait for the CIA to pick us up.” He said with annoyance in his growly voice.

Moira ran to the inside of the plane to communicate to the CIA Director that they were ready to be picked up.

Janos looked about awkwardly, still holding hands with Angel and his clothing half-burned off.

Alex couldn’t look Angel in the eye, the anger over Darwin and her betrayal still burning a hole in his gut. Reese raised an eyebrow at Janos and gave him a coy smile and a wink that left the other man squirming a little. 

The air was thick for them all even though they were on a beach.

Raven went to the plane to see Hank. “Mutant and proud, Hank.”

He growled a little at her. “You were going to leave with him.”

“Things would’ve been different. I still might go if he decides to leave again.” Raven replied defensively.

“Aside from how attractive you find him, why would you leave us for him? You going with him would basically be you leaving us for Shaw.” Hank growled out, stepping out of the ruined plane.

“Maybe because he _does_ deem my natural blue form to be beautiful.” She snapped at him.

He at least had the decency to look chastised. 

“I’m sorry for what I said last night.” He almost sounded like his old self with his insecurities and a slight stutter in his speech. “You are beautiful, even in your natural blue form, but society will never accept that.”

“I don’t need society to accept me.” Raven answered confidently. “I just needed to accept myself.”

Hank sighed and walked away from her.

Meanwhile, Reese and Lexi sat on the beach with Alex and Sean.

“So I guess now we wait.” Sean said, scooting a bit closer to Alexandra.

She laughed a little. 

Reese sneered and wrapped an arm around her.

“Reese, calm down.” She tapped his arm a bit and smiled at him. “He’s not much of a threat.” 

Angel came by a bit shyly then.

“I’m Angel, we haven’t met but if we’re gonna be stranded together we might as well get to know each other.” She said offering her hand and smiling at them kindly.

“You just helped try to kill us. I know enough.” Alexandra said easily without any real bit in her words as she sat back on the sand.

“Look, we had a bumpy start but I’m pretty sure things are gonna be different now.” Angel tried again, sitting next to Reese but forward enough to still look at Alexandra.

Reese looked at her uncomfortably and scooted closer to Lexi.

“Fine. I’m Alexandra, this is Reese.” She replied gesturing at herself and her friend.

“It’s nice to meet you guys.” Angel said with a smile. “So you can make fire and you have telekinesis?”

“Yea, more or less.” Alexandra replied, pushing a bit at Reese so that he would sit back so that the two girls could talk easier.

“Well, I can fly.” Angel let out a dry laugh. “At least I could before Havoc took one of my wings. I can also spit acid though.”

“Sounds kinda disgusting.” Lexi made a face but she couldn’t help a smile. “It also sounds really cool though.”

“Not as cool as telekinesis, being able to move whatever you want must come in handy.” Angel replied with a laugh.

“It’s all right.” Alexandra said with a shrug. “I kind of wish I had a visible mutation though. Like Azazel has a tail and red skin! That’s amazing. It’s beautiful. Raven is blue and super sexy, and you have your gorgeous wings. I wish I had something that showed that I’m part of the next stage in evolution.”

“That’s kind of weird.” Angel replied with a chuckle. “As far as I know, people with visible mutations just wish they looked normal. It can be hard, not having society accept you for how you look. You wouldn’t know, I mean, look at you! People can probably still tell that you’re part of the next stage of evolution just because of how beautiful you are.”

“I’ve had my fair share of problems.” Alexandra said softly. “What I’m saying is that if I were you, I’d love my wings! They are physical evidence that show the world that ‘ _I’m better than you, peasants!_ ’ on a daily basis without actually having to say it.”

Angel actually laughed aloud at that. “Yea, I guess you’re right but, now I only have one. Not really gonna be doing much screaming with half a mutation.”

“Hey,” Lexi said softly, looking Angel deep in the eyes. “You’re still a mutant and that is something that you should never be ashamed of.”

Angel stared at the young girl in her entrancing eyes for a moment, just before Azazel popped back up.

“Zey vent home instead of ze hospital zo if any of you vant to leave, ve should go now.” Azazel said sternly with a look of annoyance.

“You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up.” Alexandra told Sean and Angel.

Janos, Angel, Raven and Sean all held hands with Azazel as he teleported them away. Alex refused to travel with Angel and Hank wanted to take care of the plane while Reese of course wasn’t leaving Alexandra, and Moira was waiting for the CIA.

It took two hours for the CIA to send someone to pick them up and take them back to headquarters.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna post this chapter sooner but I got distracted. Sorry. :)

Alexandra used her telepathy to convince Moira not to tell her Director where the mansion was (for safety reasons) and soon Alex, Hank, Reese, Moira, and Lexi were in a car on the way to the mansion.

“I know you wouldn’t want the CIA to know where we are so I was able to convince Moira not to tell them.” Alexandra told Charles once they got back.

“Thank you.” Charles said with a wince as he sat up.

“I’m not powerful enough to make her forget what she’s seen and I can’t guarantee that she’ll never tell them though.” She replied.

“I’ll take care of it.” Charles said with a smile. “Have you seen Erik? I can feel he’s still in the house but I think he still has that blasted helmet on.”

“Don’t worry, he’s in the kitchen making you soup.” She giggled at him. “It’s kinda sweet.”

“Yes, well it would be sweeter if he’d never put that helmet on and gotten me shot, now wouldn’t it?” Charles replied with a bitter chuckle.

“He’s trying to make up for what he did, he’s saying sorry in the only way he knows how.” Lexi said moving to sit on the bed.

“Yes, well apparently what he did could have been much worse if you hadn’t been there. Thank you, Alexandra.” Charles couldn’t help staring into her eyes, they were as green as a granny smith.

A smile graced her face, a lovely thing, small as it was, just as Erik coughed a little bit awkwardly.

He was still wearing the damned helmet.

“I brought soup.” He sounded a bit gruff.

“Lovely, thank you, Erik.” Charles said with a nod, tearing his eyes away from Alexandra’s.

Alexandra gave Erik a smile and a nod, standing up and moving to stand next to him.

“So how do you like his cooking?” She asked Charles with a bright smile once he had taken a spoonful.

“He’s obviously been cooking for himself for years.” Charles said with a chuckle.

“Ah. I see.” Alexandra said knowingly.

Erik watched as she sent Charles a wink and walked out the door.

“She’s quite young, even for you.” Erik said, moving to sit on a chair next to the bed.

“She’s fascinating.” Charles replied with a gleam in his eye. “She’s so powerful and yet she has a great handle on her abilities. She has seen so much pain but instead of letting it ruin her, letting it make her bitter. Alexandra, she’s so vibrant, so full of life.”

Erik looked down, taking in Charles’ words. 

_I have let my anger turn me bitter. I’ve let myself become a monster._

Charles winced and if Erik hadn’t still been wearing the helmet, he would think that Charles had read his mind.

“Oh my friend, that’s not what I meant.” Charles said reaching a hand out to Erik. “What I meant was that, for anyone, such pain and anger has a way at eating away at one’s very soul. You’re magnificent too, Erik. Bitterness has a way of crippling people, but you’ve become stronger over the years. I’ve never been so inspired to do something, so fascinated, so _mesmerized_ , as I was when I saw you lifting that submarine from the water.”

Erik looked up at him in astonishment.

“Erik, you’ve come a long way.” Charles gave Erik an expression so full of wonder and fascination that Erik could almost believe that Charles had forgiven him. “I do believe that peace can be an option for you, if you only choose it.”

 _If I only choose you._ Erik’s mind provided.

_No, that’s not what he means. He can’t truly be this forgiving._

Erik sighed as he stood up out of the chair, Charles’ hand falling away from on top of his own. “I’ll come back to see how you are later.”

“Alright.” Charles said sadly. “Send Moira, yes?”

Erik muttered an agreement before he was out the door.

~

Erik bound down the steps a few days later to get some fresh air outside when he heard footsteps following him. 

He turned around and saw Alexandra with a small look of contentment as she followed after him. Now that he looked at her, he noticed she was back to dressing strangely with another t-shirt with an odd design on it, tight jeans, and her high-top converse. Her long hair was down and in waves that bounced as she jogged a bit to meet him.

“Where are you going?” She asked with a smile. It was a bright one and her face was slightly flushed, adding to her natural beauty. Erik took notice that unlike Angel and Raven, Alexandra didn’t feel the need to wear make-up, possibly because her eyes were big and her eyelashes were already dark and long, or maybe because she simply couldn’t be bothered. The latter seemed most likely.

“For a walk.” Erik replied brusquely.

“Great! Let’s go.” She beamed at him and slapped his arm playfully.

He stared after her as she ran to the door excitedly.

“I said walk.” Erik couldn’t help a smile that was tugging at his lips.

“Right.” She said thoughtfully as he walked to the door in his normal pace.

Erik decided a walk around the grounds should suffice and started the route that Charles and Hank took for running.

“Charles tries to stay out of your head you know.” Alexandra said kicking a stray rock into the grass.

“Yes, I know.” Erik said with a sigh.

“So then why do you still have the helmet on?” She asked, looking up at him in all her 4’9 glory.

Erik shrugged at her, avoiding her knowing eyes.

“It’s ‘cause you’re a diva and you like the attention it gets you, is that it?” She giggled up at him.

Erik sputtered offended and squared his shoulders.

“It makes me feel more secure. It’s a guarantee that _no one_ ,” Erik coughed pointedly. “Can get inside my head.”

“Are you afraid of what _one_ might find up in your noggin?” Alexandra asked with a small push at his arm.

Erik was confused at her wording, but he knew what she meant.

“I’ve already encountered three telepaths, my encounter with one of them was severely unpleasant and I still don’t know how to define my acquaintance with you.” Erik informed her very seriously.

She let out a laugh. It was adorable _damn her_. She probably had an adorable sneeze too. Fucking fantastic, no one could resist her charm and it seemed that she had her sights set on Charles.

Then again, she had a very flirty nature so who even knew.

“Hey, you know what you haven’t done yet?” She said swiftly changing the subject. 

Erik sighed. “What haven’t I done?”

“Make me something.” She replied easily. “Something you formed out of metal. I was able to sneak some metal they had at the CIA away with me and it should be enough for you to form a small statue or something for me.”

“What makes you think that I’d still make you anything?” Erik asked with his brow raised and a smirk.

“Because then I’ll do something for you.” Alexandra replied as if Erik wanted anything from her.

“What would I possibly want from you?” Erik asked, his smirk still in place but intrigued as to what she might answer.

“You can think of that as you go.” She beamed up at him.

Erik sighed. “Where’s the metal?”

She skipped a little and ran to the closest window of the house. Erik watched as she closed her eyes and her hand moved in search of something. Soon the window opened of its own accord and a small piece of metal came floating into her hand.

_Fascinating. She really is impressive._

He summoned the metal to him and she jogged back to his side.

“Aren’t you hot in that helmet?” Alexandra laughed lightly as if she had said something funny. “Actually you look kinda dorky, but aren’t you warm?”

“Do you want me to make you something or not?” Erik grumbled.

“Yes please.” She smiled up at him again. 

She was much smaller than him, and yet, she had so much power bubbling inside of her. At least Charles had said so.

“What do you want me to make you?” Erik asked as he played with the cool metal in his hands. It was comforting in a way. 

“Anything is fine, just have fun with it. That’s what it’s for anyways.” Alexandra ran to a nearby tree and jumped high to latch onto a branch, pulling herself up with ease to sit on it.

Erik smiled a little and sat down under the shade of the same tree, moving the metal around in his hands, trying to form it into different shapes as if it were clay.

“What’s your story then?” He asked conversationally, looking up at her on her branch.

It was somewhat odd for him, he couldn’t remember being this relaxed with a person looking down at him, anyone except his mama, but that was a lifetime ago.

“Where do I start? It’s kinda long.” She still smiled down at him but there was a tinge of distance in her tone.

“Charles said that you’ve known much pain.” It was out before he could stop it. He knew what it was like not to want to share one’s bad experiences and yet, here he was asking about hers.

“I don’t know about that. I don’t think I’d be so peppy if I had.” She looked away to the house.

“You don’t need to tell me.” Erik said looking back to the metal he was toying with.

“Can I take your helmet off? I want to see it.” Alexandra bounced back easily.

Erik hesitated. He hadn’t taken it off since Cuba a little bit over a week ago.

He couldn’t find words so he simply nodded.

He half expected Alexandra to take it off with her abilities but she let herself lean back and dangled off the branch she was on, facing him but upside down, her soft hair brushing against his arm.

Very gingerly, she took it off his head with her hands; her bright green eyes fascinated with its shape and watching the sun shining on it.

She looked him back in the eyes for a moment before impressively swinging herself back on her feet in a backflip off the branch.

“It’s pretty cool.” She said as she sat next to him on the grass.

She put it on her head and giggled at him when it was all the way on. 

“It looks ridiculous.” Erik chuckled at her.

“Yes it does.” She laughed as she levitated it off her head.

“Are you going to keep it?” Her voice was low, and she was frowning at it.

“Why do you ask?” He inquired curiously.

“Well you understand that this is a barrier between Charles and yourself, correct? Even if you wear it to keep other telepaths out, it also keeps him out. It says you don’t trust telepaths.” She said quietly.

Erik took a moment to think over what she was saying.

“You remember when I called you a hypocrite?” Alexandra asked somewhat shy.

“Yes, I can’t say anyone else has called me that before.” He said in a tone that let her know that he wasn’t angry about it, simply baffled.

“This is what I meant.” She tried to explain. “You tell people to embrace their mutations, because they can’t help it and because we’re superior. Raven’s walking around naked now and I overheard her tell Sean that you told her she was like a tiger.”

She lifted her eyebrows at him. “She’s not, you know. We’re not animals, we’re advanced, meaning that we already passed that phase.”

He knit his eyebrows together but couldn’t help a confused smile.

“What I’m trying to say is that telepathy is a mutation just like any other and instead of helping Charles embrace it, you’re the one persecuting him over something he can’t change.” She finished, bringing the helmet back into her hands and stared him square in the eyes with such earnest and knowledge he had to turn away.

Erik took into consideration what she was saying, and made a decision. He looked back at her and found her smiling at him.

“Were you in my head?” He asked with mild annoyance.

Alexandra beamed at him and handed him the helmet. “A pretty loud light-bulb just went off up in there. I don’t know for sure what it was but I have a vague impression. I promised you I’d stay out though so I’m doing my best. It’s not as easy as you’d think. Charles has been helping me with it, my mental guards are strong but I’m not good at reading or communicating with other minds.”

“So you can’t actually read my thoughts?” Erik asked a bit disoriented with how telepathy works.

“I can just easily catch what’s on the surface, but it takes a bit of effort to go even deeper. People are constantly thinking, even in their sleep so it’s harder to read anything that isn’t focused.” She explained.

Erik nodded and turned back to look at the metal in his hands, now shaped into something that resembled a tree but wasn’t quite there yet. It was more difficult than he had anticipated.

“Lexi!” Reese called, he was in a tank top with a hoodie over it and sweatpants as he ran over to them.

“What is it?” Alexandra asked, seeing his face red with exertion. 

“You weren’t inside, I just ran around the grounds looking for you.” He answered with concern. “What are you doing out here with _him_?”

Erik did his best not to be offended.

“We are having a lovely conversation. I’ve already told you, we’re among friends here, you don’t have to worry about me all the time.” She said fondly.

“I don’t know how to do anything else.” He said with a chuckle as he pulled her in for a sweaty hug.

She hugged him back before pulling away.

“When are you going to take us back home?” He asked, worrying his bottom lip.

“I don’t know how to take us back to our time. I’m working on it but we don’t exactly have a home to go back to.” There was a barely noticeable bite in her words but that seemed enough for him to back off.

“Why are you talking with him?” Reese asked pointing at Erik.

Erik really didn’t appreciate the distrust in his tone.

Apparently neither did Alexandra.

She smacked him on the head and shook her head at him.

Erik was shocked into a snicker.

“Don’t be a bitch, and don’t alienate him for something he hasn’t done.” She said defensively with a look of disappointment, which Erik, for one, was glad he was not on the other side of.

“Yes, don’t alienate me.” Erik said teasingly, earning him a smile from Alexandra.

“What if we can’t go back because of what you’ve done? What you stopped him from doing was the basis of our entire life!” Reese was worried and small balls of fire lighted his hands when he tightened them into fists.

“It was the right thing to do. I wasn’t going to let everyone be miserable just so we could get back to that _place_! Now turn your hands off, we both know you won’t hurt me.” She replied angrily.

“I can hurt him.” Reese threatened, looking over at Erik with fury in his eyes.

“If you so much as harm one hair on his head I will _never_ speak to you again. And if I find a way home, I’ll separate us into different time zones.” The power in her voice seemed almost overwhelming. Like there was fire burning inside of her that she couldn’t quite control.

“Why are you protecting him? What they did to you is his fault!” Reese’s expression was hurt but he wasn’t going to back down. 

“Is that what this is about?” Alexandra scoffed at him in disbelief. “It wasn’t his fault. Stryker would have still done this even without Magneto. He would have done it because he hates mutants! He hated his own son for being a telepath! This had nothing to do with Erik. It was all just an excuse for Stryker to experiment on people.”

It hadn’t occurred to Erik that Alexandra was powerful because of pain and experimentation. It should have, he was powerful for the same reason. It all made sense now what Charles had been telling him. He felt his anger bubbling over for what this poor girl had gone through.

“No, that’s not true. He wouldn’t have experimented on anybody if Magneto hadn’t done what he did. If he hadn’t instilled fear into the humans and caused them to hate us for something that _one mutant_ had done.” Reese was shaking his head now, as if he were trying to make Alexandra see reason.

“He’ll be different now. If what you say is true then Stryker won’t hurt anyone because Magneto hasn’t either. This time, things will be better.” The determination in her voice could almost convince Reese, but Erik could tell he was struggling.

“Lex, please.” Reese said quietly. “You know he’s dangerous, please, just come back inside with me.”

Alexandra shook her head and sat back down next to Erik. 

Reese swallowed hard and shifted his jaw tightly before shaking his head and running back the way he came.

“He’s right.” Erik said softly, turning to look down at where Alexandra had curled herself in with her knees to her chest. “I am dangerous.”

“I know he is.” Alexandra’s voice cracked a little and Erik shifted awkwardly.

“If you know what I’m capable of,” Erik started gently. “Then why are you so ready to forgive me? If I understand correctly, then in a different time, I cause pain to everything and everyone you know. Why do you still- why do you smile at me the way you do?”

She looked up at him with her big green eyes, a twitch of a smile on her lips. “I smile at everyone, silly. And because you haven’t done any of those things. Not here in this timeline. I was able to give you a second chance and explain things to you before your helmeted head was crammed so far up your ass you couldn’t think straight.”

Erik looked away and let out a sigh.

“May I ask what they did to you?” He asked carefully.

“Only if you let me look through your memories to see what Shaw did to you.” She replied tentatively, half expecting him to say no.

Erik paused and thought over what she was asking. It was only fair. “Alright.” He said quietly with a nod. 

As an afterthought he added, “Don’t break anything up there, I still remember you saying you have a hard time reading minds.”

“Yea, but yours is a telepath’s wet dream.” She replied with a smirk, taking Erik by surprise while she closed her eyes and touched her hands flat against each side of his head as he felt something push into his mind gently.

After a few long moments, some of his worst memories were being dredged back up as she saw and felt everything that Shaw had done to him. Every now and then he saw her flinch and a glimpse of what she was seeing would pass in front of his eyes. 

A few minutes passed and, though he couldn’t always see what she was seeing, his body would twitch. Soon he felt her withdrawing from his mind, but as if in apology or as a gesture of solidarity, she left him a memory of him being carried to bed by his mama when he was not much older than five.

“Sorry, I went back pretty far. I couldn’t find anything really happy in there aside from the memory of you moving the satellite with Charles’ help.” She said bashfully.

“It’s fine.” His voice was rough as he pulled himself back together.

“I never got to know my mom.” She said a bit pained. “I don’t even know what her mutation was. Stryker took me away from her as soon as I was strong enough to survive without her. She was one of the mutants he was experimenting on but she got pregnant with one of the other mutants he had locked up. I can’t be sure whether he planned it or not, he probably did as a kind of breading program.”

Erik looked at her expression but it was unreadable.

“Anyway, Stryker had been looking to make a mutant to help humanity with the war.” She continued. “He had made one before, but that went a bit sideways and I hear he ran off and did his own thing, not caring what happened. Stryker had found a way to take abilities from dead mutants and give them to another, so he did that with me. Traveling to other dimensions and timelines is the mutation I was born with but he gave me telekinesis and telepathy from a powerful mutant that had been killed in the war after losing control of her abilities.”

Erik scrunched his forehead and nodded for her to continue.

“I can feel it inside me, this uncontrollable power that begs me to let it out to bring destruction on everything.” Her face tightened and she took a deep breath. “I can heal too, it’s an ability he managed to get from a few mutants he’d worked with before. He didn’t have the science to bottle it so he tried to synthesize it but he tested that out on Reese before he gave it to me. Reese doesn’t always heal when he’s hurt. It’s what they called ‘a glitch-y regenerative healing factor’.”

“Why did they test it on Reese first? They obviously had other mutants.” Erik inquired.

“Reese is my protector. My bodyguard if you will.” She said with a wry laugh as she turned to focus her stare at Erik. “He volunteered for it. He feels responsible for me since he’s been taking care of me since I was ten.”

“He can’t be much older than you though, or is that part of his ability to heal?” Erik asked curiously.

Alexandra let out a light chuckle. “He’s five years older than me. I guess that he does look younger than he is but I’m not sure if that’s his genetics or the alterations they made on him.”

“I see.” Erik said with a small nod. “Does your healing ability work?”

“See for yourself.” Alexandra replied before taking the metal from his hands and shoving it onto her bare arm.

Erik expected her to at least wince with the piece of metal impaling her arm, but then again she had probably experience more pain that that.

“You didn’t need to be gruesome about it.” He replied easily with a raise of his eyebrow as he pulled it out of her arm and watched the gash immediately close and heal itself.

She gave him a big, cheesy smile, complete with squinted eyes and shiny teeth.

“It works.” She laughed a little and he sighed at her.

“Do you have any other abilities?” Erik asked curiously, eager for another demonstration.

Her smile faded a little and she looked away from him. 

“In my timeline, there was a man that captured Myst- Raven.” She corrected herself. “He unlocked the secret to her mutation, but his research and his data were transferred to Stryker after he was killed. He was able to make a copy of her DNA and found a way to mix it with my own.”

Erik blinked and suddenly there was a copy of himself sitting next to him.

“I don’t know how he did it, but I was able to stay looking the same, more or less. I do have a few blue scales on my person but I don’t suppose they could be helped.” She said in his voice.

Erik was caught somewhere between being horrified and being completely mesmerized. Alexandra had been through so much and was such a unique and exquisite creature.

“Sorry.” She apologized, shaping herself back into her natural form.

Erik found himself without anything to say.

“I think we’re done here.” Alexandra said standing up looking regretful.

“No, I-” Erik couldn’t find words. “It’s horrible what they did to you.”

Alexandra looked around awkwardly unsure of how to take the comment.

“I just mean that it must have been painful,” Erik explained, shaking himself off as he stood next to her. “Mixing your DNA with someone else’s that is. It’s a full body procedure.”

Alexandra looked back at him with her stupidly bright green eyes. “I hadn’t yet been given the regenerative ability so that made things easier I think. Stryker said that if I had had it then it would have gotten rid of the invasive DNA.”

“That isn’t what I’m saying.” Erik replied, staring back at her.

“Look, it doesn’t matter.” She said nonchalantly but it sounded strained. “It’s done.”

“It matters because it never should have happened.” Erik replied angrily. “You were right! Shaw was a mutant that experimented on me, but I was correct in assuming that humans will experiment on mutants the first chance they get!”

“Erik, please don’t do this.” Alexandra replied tiredly. “I don’t want to go through this again!” 

“Go through what again?” Erik asked, but it wasn’t a real question. “The humans deserve whatever I do to them! They will never accept us and now is the time to act, before they know about us. This time I can be smarter in my approaches, you just have to tell me what I did wrong the first time!”

“No, Erik!” She screamed back at him. “I won’t help you destroy the humans! You’re insane!”

“Look at what they did to you, Alexandra! They experimented on you like an animal. Tortured you all for their own curiosity and fear!” His voice was almost screaming now.

“Fear that you instilled in them, Erik!” She yelled back, her big green eyes pleaded at him. “We can live with them peacefully, I know we can. You just have to overcome your hatred. _Your_ prejudice is what causes this war, not theirs.”

Erik towered over her for a moment in anger, ready to shake her into seeing what he saw. They would never accept mutants. They couldn’t even accept each other.

“Erik, please listen to me very carefully.” Alexandra said, calming her own voice as if speaking to a wounded animal. “We can change _everything_ that happens. Please, I’m begging you; don’t make me go through this war again.”

Erik almost paused, but he wouldn’t be stopped. He lifted the helmet and put it on his head.

He could see Alexandra’s eyes watering over with tears, but he had a new mission. He had a new enemy that he would go after. The only reason he had stayed was for Charles but the girl with green eyes and a power that couldn’t be fathomed captivated Charles attentions. 

They almost captured his own, though perhaps not in the same way.

His feelings were unclear.

“Maybe someday, you will join me.” Erik said lifting himself off the ground. “Someday when you realize what it is that the humans truly are: inferior.”

He was about to fly away when he found himself being pulled back to the ground with a powerful force.

“No, Erik.” Alexandra’s eyes gleamed with power, ready to engage in a physical battle with Erik on her own.

“You don’t want to fight me, Alexandra.” Erik said sternly.

“You’re right.” She replied, tears spilling over onto her cheeks. For a moment, he felt a desire to wipe them away but he remained firmly where he stood. “I know how this ends. I never wanted to fight you, Erik.” 

Everyone suddenly came running by to see what was happening.

Apparently, she had called them with her telepathy.

“Erik, what are you doing?” Charles called to him.

“I’m securing our future.” He replied, turning around to look at him.

“Erik, whatever you are thinking of doing, I strongly recommend that you reconsider.” Charles said warningly.

“I was going to change, Charles.” Erik called back to him as Charles pushed towards him on his crutches. “But I realize now that the humans won’t. Their fear will turn to hatred and they will try to destroy us with every chance that they get.”

“Erik, come inside. Get that thing off your head and we can talk about this.” Charles pleaded.

Erik looked down for a minute, then back to where Alexandra was standing with her stance alert and ready for anything.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Charles.” Erik said, still looking at Alexandra, then turning back to look at the blue-eyed brunette whom he had wronged. “But I have to do this and I’m sure that you’d be the only person who could stop me.”

“Erik, please.” Charles felt exactly as he had on the beach in Cuba, begging Erik not to do something that would change him forever in a way that he could never take back.

“Mystique, will you still join me?” Erik asked tearing his eyes away from the man he admired most.

Raven hesitated. She looked at Charles on his crutches, eyes pleading at Erik and unbelievable sorrow being projected to all of them. She shook her head and took her brother’s hand in her own.

Erik felt something pinch in his chest and he turned to look at Azazel and Janos who seemed conflicted.

“Mutant brothers, will you join me then?” Erik asked, keeping his voice leveled.

Janos turned to look at Angel and found her staring at him. When she lightly shook her head as their eyes met, he planted his feet on the ground quite firmly.

Azazel had gotten to know the group better during the week and, even though they all seemed to be ridiculous children, they were kind and helped him better his English and in return, he taught them a few Russian words. With them, he was treated as more than just a personal lackey as he was with Shaw, and now it seemed with Erik.

Sean lightly tapped his arm and shrugged his shoulders in question. Azazel looked around at his new friends and replied with “Nyet.” 

This was not the outcome that Erik had been expecting and he felt his heart harden at the rejection.

“Alright then.” Erik said indignant. “I’ll find my own way.”

“No, Erik. You won’t.” Alexandra said bravely stepping forward.

“Lexi, don’t.” Reese called over to her.

“Alexandra let him go.” Charles said fidgeting on his crutches.

“I know what happens if I do. I won’t allow the world to go through this war because you won’t do what needs to be done, Charles.” Alexandra projected anger, power, and righteousness as she spoke.

“Erik,” Alexandra said calmly. “We can still talk this through. You haven’t done anything completely irrational yet so if you calm down then this doesn’t have to get messy. Listen to what we have to say and then decide what you want to do.”

“The time for talking is over, Alexandra.” He replied easily. “There is nothing left to discuss. You above anyone know that the humans must be stopped.”

“That’s not true.” Alexandra said with a frustrated sigh. “Humans got us back home safely when we were in Cuba. They didn’t cage us, they didn’t even keep us for observation, they let us go home. We helped them stop a _war_ and now you want to start a new one.”

“They turned their weapons against us, did you forget that?” Erik replied angrily. “They were ready to kill all of us and they would have if I hadn’t stopped it.”

“That’s over now. They were after Shaw, not us. They let us go home. We can forget all of that. We can be at peace.” Alexandra tried to talk him down.

“There is no such thing as peace.” Erik growled out. “There is only time in between wars.”

“Then I’ll make you a deal.” She said carefully, waiting to see his expression change to intrigue.

“And what are you proposing?” Erik asked carefully.

She let out an audible sigh. “We train. We get stronger _together_. We find more mutants and we open a school to help them with their abilities. If the humans come waging war against us, then we’ll be ready to fight back with everything we have. But first, we take a chance at peaceful co-existence.”

Erik thought over what she was saying and turned to look back at Charles.

“What are your thoughts, my friend?” He asked, somewhat placated. 

“I think it’s a wonderful idea. I’d just been talking to Raven about opening a school the other day.” Charles replied with a smile. “I can’t say I’m thrilled about the idea of prepping the children for a war though.”

Erik almost rolled his eyes at Charles’ pacifism. 

“Would you do it?” He asked sincerely.

“If you choose to stay, to try your hand at domesticity for a while,” Charles absolutely beamed at him, and honestly Erik couldn’t resist him very much. “Then of course I will do my best, so long as you do yours.”

With a nod of his head and a twitch of a smile on his lips, Erik removed the helmet from his head and walked over to Charles with determination.

“Keep this,” Erik said purposefully. “I don’t think I will be needing it.”

Sean let out a big whooping sound and the group let out relieved sighs and laughed. 

“That is the last time I ever tell you anything, Erik.” Alexandra said walking over to him and patting his back.

Erik looked indignant and huffed at her. “I don’t approve of what they did. I never will.”

“You don’t have to approve, you just have to change things so that it never has to happen.” She replied with an easy smile.

He mirrored it with one of his own and turned to help Charles back inside.

“Let me alone, I’ll be back to walking on my own sooner without any coddling. Thank you very much.” Charles said half-playfully, half-irritated.

Erik nodded at Charles and felt himself being shoved lightly by Reese running to hold Alexandra.

“Are you alright?” Reese asked, bending down his massive body to inspect her small one.

A small one capable of grounding him _quite literally_ apparently.

“I’m fine, stop fussing.” She replied lightly shaking out of his grasp.

“He could have hurt you.” Reese growled, turning to glare daggers at Erik.

“No he couldn’t.” Lexi’s laugh was light enough to make Erik feel slightly insulted.

“Nice job talking the crazy out of Magneto, Lexi.” Sean said impressed as he walked over, the only tension showing in his shoulders.

“His name’s Erik.” Alexandra corrected lightly, linking her arm with Sean’s and leading him back to the house with Reese in tow and a scowl on his face.

Lexi turned back to look at Azazel with a smile.

“Thank you, for staying.” Lexi said and Azazel replied with a smirk and a quick nod.

Janos sidled up next to Azazel and looked over at him with a smile before walking back into the mansion with Angel.

Raven wasn’t fazed much, instead teasing Charles and making fun of Erik for fussing over him. 

Hank followed behind. “Do you need a wheelchair? We can get you one. I can make you some pain medication in the lab directed towards your leg.”

“Thank you, Hank, but that won’t be necessary.” Charles laughed a bit.

“It’s a gunshot wound in his leg, he’ll be fine.” Erik pointed out but still made sure that Charles didn’t trip on the crutches.

“Yes. Erik stop moving the crutches for me, I am quite competent as an adult you know.” Charles chastised softly.

“You wobble on them. You aren’t using them properly.” Erik replied defensively.

“Well it would be easier to use them without them moving of their own accord, wouldn’t it?” Charles said, letting go of the crutches and swaying on his one good leg.

“Charles,” Erik admonished. “Don’t be a child, use the crutches.”

“Only if you _stop_ using them.” Charles replied childishly.

Erik let out a huff. “Fine, but if you fall over, don’t be surprised when I don’t catch you.”

Just to prove a point Charles let himself fall forward and watched Erik shove a crutch under him and reached out to catch him in his arms all the same.

“Exceptional.” Erik said in a voice that very much implied that it wasn’t.

Charles beamed the rest of the way inside and Erik couldn’t stay mad at him when he smiled like that.

They gathered together into the sitting room and Sean produced another game for the group while Erik supplied the chess set from the study for he and Charles to play.

“Care to teach me how to play?” Alexandra asked, moving to sit next to Charles.

“Of course.” Charles said with a smile, moving his chair to let her sit next to him with more ease.

“Groovy.” She replied, somewhat mockingly but that didn’t make sense so Charles and Erik ignored it.

Apparently Alexandra caught on surprisingly fast to the rules of the game and after watching Charles and Erik play a game, she asked if she could play against the winner (which just so happened to be Charles).

Erik grinned and moved to switch chairs with her, seating himself close to Charles.

“You’re white, so you go first?” Alexandra asked politely.

“Yes, that’s usually how it goes.” Charles chuckled at her and let himself lean back in his chair after moving one of his knights.

Erik let himself enjoy the feeling of Charles so close to him and watched as Charles focused more on the game at which Alexandra was apparently quite adept.

“Is this really you’re first time playing?” Charles found himself asking as Alexandra took his other bishop with her queen.

“Am I not playing right?” She asked, the perfect model of innocence but there was a gleam in her eye that caught Charles’ attention.

“You’re playing just fine.” Charles replied with a knowing smile. “You might rival Erik as a suitable opponent.”

She grinned back at him but ultimately lost the game.

It was close, Charles had been ready to tip over his king when he had found a way to get himself out of trouble and turn the tide.

Alexandra teased that Charles had cheated and that Erik had helped him win. Which wasn’t a complete lie, but Erik had been thinking loudly and actually had good ideas.

Charles, of course, never admitted any of this.

Erik smiled at him like a lunatic when she went back to sit with the others.

Charles fought the blush that was creeping up his neck and set up another game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the chapter. Things get angsty-er in the next one. This is all just me having fun writing shit out but if anybody's enjoying it then that's just another win ;) Tell me what you think, yea?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is being posted a lot later than I had thought it would be. I'm sorry.

“Charles!” Lexi called after the older telepath.

“Ah, hello.” Charles said turning around with his cane.

“I was wondering if you had a moment?” She looked up at him hopefully.

“Of course.” Charles said, gesturing to the study for more privacy.

Once they were sitting down she looked at him nervously.

“As you know, we aren’t from this timeline. At least not anymore.” She began. “But Reese wants to get back or at least-… He wants to leave. He doesn’t feel comfortable around Erik and he doesn’t like me talking to him.”

“Erik isn’t a threat.” Charles informed her. “I even have the helmet if he does try anything.”

“You mean try to commit genocide again?” She asked with a smirk.

“Yes, that.” Charles gave her a bland look.

“Look, I don’t see him as a threat.” Alexandra clarified. “I know what he’s capable of and yes, it is frightening. But I don’t think that alienating him will get us anywhere and that’s what Reese is doing. I was wondering if maybe you could talk to him and try to clear things up. In the future he has a great respect for everything that Professor X says, even if he doesn’t agree all the time. I think that he’d listen to you more than he’d listen to anyone else.”

Charles thought for a moment. “Yes, all right. I’ll have a talk with him before Erik and I leave to talk to parents and recruit students today.”

“Good luck with that by the way.” Lexi said with a wink. “Don’t be too forward though and make sure Erik doesn’t set them off.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to stop him from doing anything if he set his mind to it.” Charles chuckled. “That seems to be more in your area of expertise. I’m surprisingly rubbish with words.”

“But you have an advantage that I don’t.” She said with a knowing grin. “I’m going to the gym you set up for Alex if you need me.”

Before Charles could ask her what she meant, she was out of the room.

~

Erik decided to go to the gym for a bit before he had to shower and leave.

He was eager to meet with new mutants but Charles had insisted that they wait until morning so that he could get some sleep before they went, despite Erik insisting that he could sleep in the car.

Erik wasn’t tired and he had far too much energy and went down to the gym seeing as it was still dark out and Charles had gotten Hank to make special non-metal weights for him.

“What are you doing down here?” Alexandra asked once he was in the room.

She was dressed in a tank top and some short shorts, her converse to the side of the room but still wearing long socks.

Alexandra also happened to be in an oddly flexible position, with one leg wrapped under her and the other held above her head. 

“Burning some energy before Charles finally decides it’s time to leave.” Erik answered politely. “What are you doing?”

“Just some stretches.” Alexandra replied easily. “I have to stretch my muscles before I train so that I don’t sprain anything.”

“That’s stretching?” He asked skeptically.

She chuckled and easily moved her legs into a split under her and bent forward. “Can you spot me? I just need you to apply some light pressure on my back.”

Erik watched in fascination before moving to help. 

“Doesn’t this hurt?” He asked, pushing down on her shoulders.

“Funny thing, but no.” Alexandra said with a small sigh of exertion. “I’m sure that it did once, but I’ve been doing positions like these since before I could walk so I don’t remember.”

Erik nodded. “What are you stretching for?”

“Dancing.” She said easily.

He paused.

She burst out into giggles and he almost winced at how it should hurt in her position. 

“I’m kidding!” She said, pushing herself back and he removed his hands from her shoulders. “No, I’m gonna be sparing with Alex later and so I’m just getting myself ready.”

“Sparing?” Erik asked uncertainly. 

“I would practice with Raven but she doesn’t have any experience fighting, even if she is naturally strong and flexible. Alex at least knows how to throw a good punch and when to fight dirty.” Alexandra explained.

The thought of something going wrong while both he and Charles were away worried Erik.

“I can take care of myself, no matter what you or Reese think.” 

She moved her legs up behind her until her heel was next to her face.

“I’m sure you can, but won’t it be safer if you wait for either Charles or myself to referee?” Erik asked, still hesitant.

“I’m just gonna rough him up a bit, I promise not to leave Alex incapacitated.” Alexandra teased.

She let go of her legs and got up to stand. Erik couldn’t help noticing a flash of purple scales on her upper thigh.

“So that’s where you have them.” Erik said pointing at the scales.

She looked at them and blushed, hurriedly pulling down her shorts to cover them.

“That’s a few of them.” She said rubbing at her neck.

She thought for a moment before she seemed to come to a decision and she walked closer to him.

He cocked his head at her and she turned around in front of him and pulled up the back of her tank top slightly. There was a small patch of three scales on the right side of her back next to a pair of back dimples.

“These are a few more.” Alexandra said a bit hesitant and slightly squirming.

Erik wanted to reach out and touch them in fascination but he kept his hands to himself.

She stepped away as she pulled her shirt back down.

“What’s going on here?” Reese’s angry voice startled them both.

“Reese, it’s okay, I was just showing him my scales.” She said in an attempt to placate him.

It only served to enrage him further.

“Cover yourself up and go to our room.” He replied angrily glaring at Erik.

“No, I’m training.” Lexi said firmly.

“Lexi, don’t fight me on this. I need to be with Erik, alone.” Reese turned to her with ire in his voice.

“Don’t start with me, Reese.” She warned. “And don’t try and start anything with Erik either because I will cut. You. Down.”

“Why are you always defending him over me?” Reese asked with genuine confusion and hurt. “I’ve given you everything I have and you still don’t see me.”

“What are you talking about?” Lexi asked with a roll of her eyes. “I see you just fine. I see you so well that I can see that you’re constantly trying to entice Erik into doing something stupid. I can’t have that.”

Erik held his tongue but he was offended at the constant insinuations that, left to his own devices, he would constantly be making mistakes.

“He’s a bad guy, Lexi.” Reese pushed. “It’s what he is and he can’t help it.”

Alexandra had obviously lost her temper at this because she used her abilities to drag Reese close to her.

As soon as he was bent over and face to face with her, she whispered. “Just because people make bad choices and do stupid things, it doesn’t make them evil. You can’t look past your own rage, but if you could, you would see that he has a good, _strong_ heart and he is more than the pain he has felt and even more than the pain he can cause.”

Reese visibly gulped and Erik stood with wide eyes at the confrontation.

With a sigh, Alexandra let Reese go and he stumbled back.

“Give him a chance?” There was still power in her voice but she still said it as though it were his decision.

Reese blinked and turned to look at Erik. He was hiding it well but there was a hint of terror in his eyes. Whether it was from facing Alexandra’s power or just being around him, Erik couldn’t be sure.

“Fine.” Reese took a deep breath and looked around in thought before exiting the room.

“Sorry about that.” Alexandra said with a smile back on her face. “Hey, do you think we should maybe get a mirrored wall in here? I need to see if my forms are still correct.”

Erik blinked at her sudden change and nodded, looking around to see which wall the mirror should be on.

“How about that one?” He said, pointing to the one behind where the gym tools were.

“That would be perfect.” She replied. “Right now though, could you tell me if they’re coming out all right? Forms and stances are actually very important, they add power to every movement.”

“Sure, go ahead.” Erik gestured for her to go on.

Erik watched completely amazed as she moved with speed and precision, power could be felt in every punch of her form and the whipping sounds in the air.

She continued through a complicated but ordered series of movements with the same fastidiousness with which she had begun until she gracefully ended the form standing in the same spot from where she had started.

“How was that?” She asked, her face bright with the exertion and her eyes wild.

“Perfect.” Erik whispered, then grinning in amazement.

“No it wasn’t.” She said turning a shade pinker than before. “I know that I messed up on the leg sweep, I over calculated it.”

“Then you recovered from it smoothly enough that I didn’t notice.” He complimented.

“Thanks.” Alexandra mirrored his smile.

The form and conversation now over, Erik moved to the plastic weights.

“Sorry for keeping you, it was thoughtless of me.” She said awkwardly.

“That’s alright, I was just looking for something to do.” He answered politely. 

She didn’t say anything else and he moved to sit on the bench, lifting the large plastic weights with his arms.

Alexandra continued her stretching and he watched in silent amusement when she practiced her handstands. Once she was properly balanced, she began walking around with her hands and when she reached a wall, she let her legs dangle back next to her head before lifting herself up with ease.

She took a moment to let her blood flow back down.

“How’s it going over there?” Alexandra called over to him.

“Apparently not as well as it’s going with you.” Erik replied with a smirk.

“PARKOUR!” Alexandra yelled and began doing a series of wall jumps and backflips across the room.

_What the fuck is that?_

She kept going until she got tired and started laughing so hard that she fell over and was laying down on the ground.

“Oh! Your face!” Alexandra was laughing up at him when he put down the weights to check on her and make sure she hadn’t hurt herself. “You should have seen it! You were so confused!”

Erik glared at her for a moment but she kept laughing just as before and he let a small smile show on his face.

“I heard a lot of thumping, what’s going on in here?” Sean asked drowsily rubbing at his ginger locks when he came in.

Alexandra and Erik both turned to look at him with smiles on their faces. She was on her back and he was crouched down on one knee beside her.

“Oh, sorry.” Sean said slightly frowning before he disappeared into the hall again.

It must look awkward how Sean had found them. She was only wearing a tank top and shorts and Erik himself was shirtless and in sweats.

He let out an exasperated sigh as he stood up and helped her to her feet.

“I never asked what you’re doing awake so late.” Erik stated, sort of a question.

“It’s easier to train at night.” Alexandra answered easily without her usual sass. “The body’s loose from the day and once I get tired I can go to sleep. I guess lately I’ve just been training pretty late.”

“If you’re training at night and you’re still up by breakfast, then when do you sleep?” Erik asked slightly disturbed.

“I can usually catch a good two or three hours of sleep before everyone else wakes up.” She shrugged. 

“How long has this been going on?” Erik asked with concerned anger leaking into his tone.

“I guess since we got back from Cuba.” Alexandra said as though she hadn’t actually thought about it.

“Does Charles know?” Erik was anxious now, the thought that maybe she was overworking herself because of him felt like a bad itch he couldn’t scratch out.

“I’m sure that he does, but he hasn’t said anything yet.” She replied easily.

Erik scrunched his forehead in worry.

“Look, I’m gonna go to sleep now. We can talk about this later. Good morning, Erik.” Alexandra said, moving to pick up her converse and giving him a pat on the arm before exiting the room.

Erik sighed and went back to his weights. He was resolved to talk to Charles about Alexandra’s sleeping habits as soon as possible.

~

Before leaving, Charles set aside a few minutes to speak with Reese about his behavior towards Erik.

“I know, and I’ll try not to be so hostile.” Reese said once Charles had said all he had to on the subject.

“I think it’s very important to Alexandra that the two of you get along.” Charles informed him. “It hasn’t escaped my notice that they’ve gotten quite close over your time here and I think that no one would like to see what happens if she is forced to choose between the two of you.”

“Yea, she does seem to like him a lot.” Reese answered with concern projecting telepathically to Charles but he rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why.”

“That’s because you haven’t given yourself a chance to find out.” Charles smiled at him.

“I promise not be a total dick to Erik so long as he keeps his head on straight.” Reese promised. “Sound fair?”

“That it does.” Charles replied with a laugh. “I’ll see you when we get back.”

With that, the conversation was over and Charles left the room.

~

A few hours later, Erik and Charles were all set to leave once the sun had been up for an hour already. 

Erik gave his best disappointed look at Alexandra when she was awake three hours after having gone to sleep but she ignored him and helped Charles pack his things into the car.

“Have fun and make good choices!” Alexandra yelled once Erik and Charles had both settled themselves into the car and were driving away.

“Charles, what do you know about Alexandra’s sleeping habits?” Erik asked once they were a good few miles away from the mansion.

“They’re quite irregular, poor girl.” Charles said regretfully. “I can’t be sure why that is, her thoughts are very scattered and after a harmful encounter with them, I know better than to pry uninvited. Why do you ask?”

“She was up earlier this morning, as far as I know she’s only had three hours of sleep and that’s only if she went to bed when she told me she would.” Erik explained. “She was training in the gym room.”

“Really?” Charles asked interestedly. “I didn’t know that she was very physically active, though I suppose I should have, considering her physic. At any rate, if her insomnia becomes too much of a problem for her then I assure you that I will look into it further.”

“I think now would be the best time for you to say something.” Erik pushed. “ _Before_ it becomes a problem. Can’t you just ‘tell’ her to go to sleep as you did in Russia with that official that Emma was playing with?”

“I’m afraid telepaths are a bit more difficult to convince into doing things.” Charles replied with a frown. “In any case I told her I would keep out of her head without her permission and she hasn’t asked me for any help so there isn’t much I can do.”

Erik sighed and they continued on their way to the first potential student’s home.

~

“Lexi, go back to sleep.” Reese groaned, turning over from his blankets on the floor and dragging himself up when she came into the room.

“I’m not sleepy.” She insisted. 

“Yes. You are.” He said blandly. “I know you are because I know you and I can tell when you’re lying. Go back to sleep.”

“I don’t want to.” Alexandra replied petulantly, moving to the closet where they had hung their clothing.

Reese came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “C’mon, don’t be a child.”

She sighed and walked out of his arms. “I don’t like the dreams I’m having but I can’t help them.”

“Lexi, look at me.” Reese demanded gently, walking towards her again to place his hands on either side of her face. “We all have bad dreams but we can’t let them keep us from our much needed rest.” 

She half-frowned at him. “I’m an enhanced _mutant_. Maybe the next stage in evolution doesn’t need sleep.”

“Even if it doesn’t, we’re still in the starting stages of this next step where even powerful mutants like Professor X and Magneto need their beauty sleep.” Reese laughed out, moving his thumbs to rub at the side of her eyes. “And apparently so do you because you’re getting ugly wrinkles at eighteen and bags under your eyes that make you look eighty.”

Alexandra smiled as she batted his hands away. “I am not!”

“Go back to bed and at least rest your eyes if you can’t sleep.” Reese demanded, wrapping her in a hug and waddling them back to the bed. 

“I don’t wanna.” She grumbled, but complied when he pushed her onto the bed and walked around the other side of it to cover her.

“Without the Professor here, everyone’s decided to go back to sleep.” Reese said as he laid back down on the floor. “They can all fawn over you later.”

After a moment of silence she spoke. “I’m sorry about earlier… with Erik. I still like you best you know.”

“I know.” He sighed. “I’ve been kind of an ass since we got here, but it’s only because I’m worried about you.”

“Yea, I know.” There was a smile in her voice. “Are you really gonna give him a chance?”

“I told you I would, didn’t I?” Reese asked with playful indignation. “When have I ever lied to you?”

“Fair point.” Alexandra replied easily.

They both fell asleep soon after.

~

Reese woke up to find she was gone.

After taking a shower and putting on some clean clothing, he set out to find her.

He couldn’t feel the usual familiar presence of her in his mind and it unsettled him, but she had told him not to worry about her too much when they were at the mansion and so he calmly walked through all of the rooms she might be in. He only let himself start to panic when he checked all of the rooms of the mansion twice and she wasn’t in any of them or outside on the grounds.

The others were still walking around in their sleep clothes but Reese thought it best to check to see if Alexandra had gone out for a walk with anyone or had told anyone that she was leaving to explore the places outside of the Westchester mansion.

By midday, everyone was in a panic as to where she might be. Sean had insisted on dressing in his new uniform to search for her through the air but, without Erik to catch him if something went wrong, everyone agreed to let Angel be the one to fly around looking for her with the replacement wing Hank had made.

Later in the evening, Alexandra showed up out of a wormhole into the sitting room, dressed in a bloodstained, black leather uniform sobbing uncontrollably and causing the entire room to shake.

“Lexi?” Reese yelled frantically running to catch her collapsing body in his arms. “Lexi! Oh my God.”

Once he had caught her the room stopped moving and the others gathered around her with concern but still far enough to give her space.

“They’re all dead!” She screamed. 

“Lexi, you’re okay. You’re safe.” Reese soothed comforting words into her hair as he held her close.

“He killed them all. He ruined the world.” Alexandra was trembling in his arms and projecting her fear and pain almost directly into him.

It was all he could do not to start crying with her.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “I had to stop him but I couldn’t.”

“It’s over. Don’t worry about it.” Reese consoled her, still holding her tightly.

“What happened?” Janos asked confused.

“She travelled to a different world.” Reese replied in a soft tone, not wanting to startle her. “A very bad one apparently.”

“She can travel to different worlds? Are you serious?” Sean asked with amazement and disbelief.

Reese turned to look at him irritably. “It’s a mutation, but he can’t help it sometimes.”

“I didn’t think I would find this dimension again.” Alexandra said with a shudder. “Let alone this timeline or year.”

“How did you find us?” Reese asked gently.

“I looked for you.” 

A fond smile spread across his face and he lifted her into his arms.

“She’s had a long day. She should get some rest.” Reese told the others.

“Wait, shouldn’t we know more about what happened?” Angel asked, very un-amused at having spent the day looking for someone who hadn’t even been in the same universe.

“Questions wait till morning.” Azazel answered, grabbing Reese by the arm and teleporting him and Alexandra to their room.

“Thanks.” Reese said with a grateful smile.

Azazel shrugged before disappearing out of the room.

~

Erik and Charles returned to the mansion at night a week later and found the whole house on edge.

“What’s going on?” Charles turned to ask Raven who simply shook her head at him.

“It’s not good, Charles.” She said. “Alexandra’s cracked and her abilities are going insane.”

“What are you talking about?” Charles asked but Erik interrupted him.

“Where is she?” His voice laced with concern.

“She ran off into the trees a while ago but who knows.” Raven shrugged at him.

Erik bolted back out the door and reached out with his ability to find any running metal in case she was wearing any.

Once he found some, he pulled himself towards it.

“What are you doing here?” Reese asked confused when Erik jumped right next to him.

“I’m looking for Alexandra, I thought you were her since I felt metal.” Erik replied, already searching for any metal in the direction Reese had been running.

“Don’t bother.” Reese told him, moving his arm down. “She never wears any metal. It’s a safety precaution that she hasn’t stopped using, probably more out of habit now.”

Erik nodded. “Why are you wearing metal? What about your safety?”

“Sean told me to wear this necklace in case you came back, said you guys were close and that you could help calm her down.” Erik noticed that Reese was holding back a growl and it made him smirk a bit.

Erik walked over to where he saw a broken stick, possibly broken by Alexandra in her haste. “I think she went this way.”

“She won’t listen when I call her. Do you know how to call a telepath with your mind?” Reese asked, all previous hostility gone.

“I’ve never tried so I can’t say that I do.” Erik answered, not wanting to waste time with small conversation but trying to be helpful.

“I’ll try to call Charles then.” Reese closed his eyes and concentrated.

A few short moments later, Reese opened his eyes again. “She’s this way. Charles could sense a void running towards the pond.”

Erik raced to the pond with Reese in tow, but they both paused at what they found.

Alexandra was crouched down by the water with a sharp rock jammed into her neck and she was sobbing.

“Lexi.” Reese called carefully but he was running to her side.

Erik approached cautiously, not wanting to startle her but she jerked away from him when he came what was apparently too close.

She curled herself into a tight ball but he could see her shoulders shaking.

“What happened to her?” Erik asked, infuriated that something had happened to his small companion.

Reese sighed and Erik almost expected him to try and start a fight, but the boy removed the rock from her neck and pulled Alexandra close into his arms as looked up at Erik with a weary expression.

“Since you and Charles left, her mutation has been acting up on her.” Reese explained. “She’s been travelling to different timelines and dimensions and universes. She’s seen some good, but she’s seen some really bad things too. Two days after you had left, her telekinesis and telepathy went sort of crazy and everything reacts to how she feels so everyone’s on eggshells around her.”

“Why is this happening?” Erik asked, moving closer carefully to see how she was.

“Well, she spent a day trying to find out.” Reese answered, starting to pet her hair as Erik came up to them. “She went into some sort of meditation or trance and she looked into her own body to see what went wrong. When she came to, she said that if she slept more then the problem would be fixed but it hasn’t, even after she tried.”

“So you don’t know.” Erik said blandly, moving to stroke at Alexandra’s hair but she still wouldn’t look at him. 

“We’ve all just been waiting for you and Charles to come back so that _he_ can find out what’s wrong.” Reese retorted with a small bite to his words.

“Reese, be nice.” Alexandra murmured against his chest.

He rolled his eyes.

“Do you want Erik to take you inside?” Reese asked kindly but Erik could see a bit of hesitation still on his face.

She looked up at Reese and gave him a small smile.

“Thank you, but no.” Alexandra answered quietly, looking back down. “I don’t want to go inside. I get anxious and things get set off.”

Reese sighed and held her closer, unsure of what to do.

“May I?” Erik asked, sitting down and reaching for her.

Reese showed a hint of trepidation but moved her to slant towards Erik.

Once she was in Erik’s arms, she curled herself tighter and tensed. Suddenly a mix of emotions was running through him. Emotions that weren’t his.

“I’m sorry.” She sobbed.

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, Reese not willing to leave and skipping rocks on the pond.

Before Erik could register what was coming towards him, he felt metal being pulled to where they were.

He turned and found that she had summoned Shaw’s helmet and the small crudely shaped metal tree that he had been experimenting with when she convinced him to take the helmet off.

“Hank uses it to drown out my projections when he works in the lab and I don’t know if I can keep my promise of staying out of your head when I’m like this.” She explained softly when they landed next to him.

He debated putting on the helmet for a moment but lifted it with his ability and placed it on his head, feeling a sudden silence overtake him as he could no longer feel her thoughts in his mind.

When she moved to get away from him, a flare of protectiveness came over him and he shoved it off his head and held onto her more tightly. 

Sudden emotions of joy and hope flooded him and he started back a bit but didn’t let her go.

“What would you like me to shape for you today?” Erik asked, breaking the silence and summoning the metal tree in his hand.

Alexandra sighed and let herself cuddle closer while she relax into his arms.

“Something Charles might like.” She answered with a small smile.

The pressing emotions backed away and she had visibly calmed.

Reese let out a sigh of relief and fell back into the soft grass with a thump.

Erik didn’t need to be a telepath to know that Reese was asleep and out like a rock.

“How long did Reese stay awake?” Erik asked admonishing her softly with a smile tugging at his lips.

“The whole time.” Alexandra replied guiltily.

“He’s a fool and you take advantage of him.” Erik chided.

“I can’t help it if he’s over-protective of me.” She said looking down at the grass.

Erik sighed at her cluelessness.

“What do you think Charles would like?” Erik asked, changing the subject and holding the small girl closer to him.

The metal drifted and changed slowly in the air in front of them.

“You know him better than I do.” Alexandra replied with a shrug. “What do you think he would like?”

“A school with actual students.” Erik teased.

“Then give him one.” Alexandra told him with a knowing look as she stared up at him.

“Easier said than done.” Erik informed her, shaping the metal into a figure of a man.

“I think he’d like a small statue of the mansion dressed up as a school better than a statue of himself.” Alexandra sighed, letting her legs uncurl and spread out onto the grass they were sitting on.

“I can’t even shape a tree out of metal and you want me to shape him the mansion?” Erik asked skeptically amused.

“He isn’t expecting anything and you can work on it in your free time. It would be a nice surprise.” She answered with a grin.

Erik could almost ignore the bags under her eyes with that smile, but he still took notice of how tired she was.

“I’ll need more metal.” He informed her as he moved to get up and carrying her into his arms. “And you need to sleep.”

Alexandra didn’t protest as he had expected, but settled into his arms. Erik saw Reese’s body being lifted off the ground and trailing behind him as he began to walk.

When Erik entered the mansion, apparently the children had taken notice that she had finally calmed and had gone to sleep.

Charles silently followed them up the steps when he saw Alexandra levitating Reese’s body to the sitting room couch.

“Do you know what happened?” Charles asked once Erik had laid her on her bed.

“She missed me.” Erik teased, but seeing the expression on Charles’ face he quickly answered sincerely. “She hadn’t been sleeping well and it became a problem.”

Charles was fairly chastised as he remembered that Erik had told him to correct the situation and he had proceeded to shrug it off.

“Can you stay?” Alexandra asked before he could pull away.

Charles already felt awkward enough about not having helped her when he knew she needed it.

“You should stay with her if it keeps her calm.” Charles told him with a nod. “It looks as though everyone could do with a good night’s rest.”

Charles left the room and Erik hesitated.

“You don’t have to.” Alexandra told him tiredly. “If it makes you uncomfortable.”

Erik moved away from the bed. “I’ll be back in my sleep clothes, you should change as well.”

Alexandra gave him a bright but tired smile and nodded as she got out of bed.

Erik came back five minutes later, already changed and having quickly brushed his teeth to keep his hygiene habits.

She had found some flannel pajamas and was nervously toying with a loose thread on her sleeve.

“Come here.” Erik said as he settled his tired body under the covers.

She silently moved to crawl under them with him and he pulled her in for a hug.

The feeling was almost foreign. He hadn’t been so delicate with another person in a long time and he let himself revel in the softness of the flannel and the small, childlike way which she curled against him.

They were both asleep in a matter of minutes.

~

The next morning, Erik woke up with to find Alexandra sleeping comfortably spread on the other side of the bed.

He got up quietly but didn’t notice that Reese was on the floor and stumbled when he stepped on him.

“Ow! Lexi, I’ve told you already.” Reese grumbled, shifting his face further into the pillow.

Erik didn’t know what to say and kept quiet.

“You can at least apologize.” Reese then turned to look at Erik with surprise on his face

“I didn’t realize you were there.” It was as close to an apology as Erik could get.

“What are you doing in here?” Reese’s hands were balling into fists but he stopped and loosened them with a deep breath.

“Alexandra asked me to-” Erik started but Reese raised his hand to stop him and stood up.

“How did I get here?” Reese asked with less irritation. “Last thing I remember is Lexi pulling out of my head and then I knocked out.”

“Yes, you fell asleep on the grass outside and she brought you in.” Erik clarified, refusing to give into the awkwardness he felt.

“She brought me in here even though you guys…?” Reese trailed off, obviously not wanting to jump to conclusions.

“She asked me to stay and I did and then we both went to sleep.” Erik said gesturing toward the girl sprawled on the bed in deep sleep.

“So you were just okay with me sleeping on the floor here?” Reese asked with a confused grin.

“She left you on the couch in the sitting room when we came in.” Erik replied with a hint of a smirk.

“But then she called me to her in her sleep even though you were still in here.” Reese stated firmly.

Erik could recognize the challenge in his voice.

“Habit, I suppose, or maybe she’s just used to getting up and you letting her walk all over you.”

 _If looks could kill. Damn, Reese must have dedicated years of his life to perfecting his glare_. 

Erik could breeze through it easily though.

“That’s not how it is.” Reese growled and was sure to say more but a sleepy sound escaped Alexandra’s lips as she got up.

Erik turned and saw her hair askew and her eyes a bit crossed as they focused.

“What time is it?” Alexandra asked with a yawn.

“Time for you to get a watch.” Reese replied with a wink but moving the clock to check anyways.

“It’s a quarter to nine.” Erik told her, sitting back down on the bed.

“Wow.” Alexandra exclaimed, raising her eyebrows at him. “Did I keep you up at night or something or why are you still in your pajamas so late?”

“Charles and I had a tiresome trip.” Erik informed her with a smile.

“Right, I’m sure I’ll here all about it from the Professor when he talks about it at lunch.” She smiled back at him.

“I’m going to go change.” Erik said moving towards the door. “You should do the same.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Alexandra replied with a mock salute and he left the room.

~

“He’s a dick.” Reese told Alexandra when they were in the gym room with Alex.

“Who, Erik?” Lexi asked, throwing a punch that he blocked.

“He’s not too bad.” Alex shrugged, listening to their conversation while he lifted weights.

“Maybe not to you, but he was a real asshole this morning. And I was actually trying to be nice.” Reese said blocking a kick from Lexi.

“What do you mean?” She asked with a grunt and a jump-kick. “What did he do?”

“Nothing, he just rubs me the wrong way.” Reese didn’t want to talk about it.

“Why was he rubbing you this morning?” Lexi snarked with a grin.

“Shut up!” Reese playfully pushed her.

“Get a room.” Alex rolled his eyes.

Reese was pretty sure his face was read and it wasn’t from exertion.

“We already have one.” Lexi winked at him. “And if I remember correctly, we were in here before you were.”

“You want me to leave then, is that what you’re saying?” Alex played along.

“Of course not!” Lexi said sounding mock-offended. “You little voyeur, you could at least participate a bit more.”

Alex tilted his head back and laughed aloud. “I’ll take that as an invitation.”

“As you should.” Lexi grinned at him.

Reese coughed awkwardly.

“What?” Lexi and Alex asked together.

Just then, Hank showed up at the doorway.

“Charles wants us all to meet in the sitting room in five minutes.” He informed them, then proceeded to nod awkwardly and disappear.

~

Five minutes later, they were all gathered in the sitting room.

“What’s this about?” Raven was the first to ask when Charles walked into the room.

“Thank you all for gathering here.” Charles started. “First things first: so far we don’t have any students for the school but I’m confident that we will soon. Secondly, I’ve been told about what had happened here while Erik and I were gone and I will want to speak with Alexandra later. Alone please. And lastly, I just want you all to know that you are free to leave at any time you please. You can go home and I won’t bother you. You have always had that freedom to leave and I don’t want you to think that you’re being held here as prisoners or as a sort of experiment.”

“What’s brought this on?” Angel asked.

“Well, after what happened this past week I don’t want you to think you’re forced to be here. You can go home if you feel uncomfortable.” Charles answered with hesitation.

Erik clenched his jaw. “What do you mean ‘after what happened this past week,’ Charles?”

“I mean with Alexandra’s abilities becoming uncontrollable.” Charles replied with a hint of confusion.

“Then you might as well not start the school at all.” Erik told him with a shrug. 

“What on earth are you talking about?” Charles shook his head in misunderstanding.

“If you are going to start a school for mutants,” Erik sighed. “Then you will need to get used to abilities not doing what a mutant wants them to. Alexandra is powerful, but that doesn’t mean that she’ll be much different from other students that you might have. It’s time you stop trying to avoid problems and start actively taking them on.”

Everyone held their silence as the tension in the room grew thick. Erik stood waiting for Charles to reply.

“Perhaps you’re right.” Charles said, sighing. “Maybe I shouldn’t try to start this school.”

“That isn’t what I meant.” Erik threw up his arms. “Take action, Charles. She needs you to _help_ her, to teach her, not throw everyone out.”

“But I can’t!” Charles yelled back at him. 

“Yes, you can.” Raven cut in, moving to lay a hand of Charles’ shoulder.

“No, I bloody can’t. I couldn’t help you with your mutation and I grew up with you.” Charles told her. “How the hell am I supposed to help anyone else?”

“C’mon, Charles.” Raven encouraged. “You did help me and even if you still think that you haven’t, you should at least realize that circumstances are different with her. For one, you’re not a lonely ten year old who found her stealing your food.”

Charles gave her a small smile and pulled her in for a one-armed hug. “Thank you, Raven.”

“And another thing,” Raven said leaning against him. “She’s a telepath so at least your familiar with one of her abilities and you can start from there.”

“So are you going to wuss out or are you going to start your school?” Sean asked lazily.

“I suppose I don’t have much of a choice with these two.” Charles chuckled, pointing at Erik and Raven.

“Good.” Erik replied with a smile.

The tension in the room gone, the group let out relieved sighs and laughter. Except Azazel who rolled his eyes at all of them.

~

“Alexandra.” Erik called, seeing the girl on her run.

She ran over to him at the same pace and stopped right in front of him.

“What can I do for ya?” Alexandra asked a bit out of breath.

“Nothing, I just wanted to know if you’re feeling better.” Erik said.

“Yea, lots.” She smiled up at him.

“Good.” He stated firmly. “Don’t over-exert yourself.”

“Never.” Alexandra winked at him.

He looked at her disapprovingly.

She sighed. “Don’t worry about me, okay?”

“You don’t want me to worry about you?” Erik asked raising his eyebrows at her.

“I have to go talk to the professor.” Alexandra told him as she walked away. “I’ll see you later.”

_No you don’t, you were on a run._

~

Alexandra knocked on Charles’ door. “Professor?”

“I don’t have any students yet, maybe you should hold off on that title for a bit.” Charles answered from behind the door. “Come in.”

She did and closed the door behind her. “I need to talk to you.”

“Yes, I got that from you coming in to see me.” Charles smiled at her. “You look troubled, what is it?”

“I want you to go through my mind.” She said shyly. “I can’t talk about where I went during the past week, but I need someone to know.”

“What happened?” He asked, moving her towards a chair.

“Well, I saw things,” She said, there were tears ready to fall out of her eyes and onto her cheeks. “Horrible things and I can’t get the images out of my head. They were real. They happened in different universes.”

Charles sighed heavily. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to get them out.” Alexandra let out a sob and she held her peace for a moment before continuing. “I want you to make me forget.”

Charles stuttered a bit then bit his lip. “You understand what you’re asking, right? They’re your own experiences; you’ll be missing a whole week of your life.”

“I know.” She replied clenching her jaw. “If you see them, you’ll know why I need them gone.”

“Lay down on the couch please.” Charles instructed.

Alexandra did as she was told.

“Close your eyes, it will help you keep focus and let me concentrate better.” He said as he placed his hands on either side of her head.

Once he was in her mind he was flooded with a sense of panic, then the images came.

_Alexandra woke up in a different place. The sky was still grey and she looked around noticing broken buildings and trash being thrown about by the wind. She seemed to be in a city but she didn’t know how she had gotten there._

_She was still in her pajamas from the night before, just a pair of shorts and a tank top._

_“Reese?” She called._

_Nothing._

_“Professor?” She tried again._

_Again, nothing._

_“Erik are you there?”_

_There wasn’t much hope left but she still called out._

_“Anyone?”_

_Silence._

_After a few moments, she hesitated and walked around._

_She found an old car with the keys on the front tire and turned it on._

_“Where am I?”_

_Fear swept over her as the city showed to be filled with dead bodies, some even looked like mutants._

_“No. I fixed this.” Anxiety filled her and she drove faster._

_After an hour, she had gotten to a car pile-up and got out, running to find any signs of life. She reached out with her ability to see if anything was still breathing, if any heart was still beating. No. She was alone._

_She lifted herself with her telekinesis and flew as far away as she could._

_Alexandra saw a small station and felt the steady beating of a heart coming from a small fortress._

_She lowered herself to it and opened the locked door, again with her ability._

_Instead of saying anything, she felt around for the life sign and crept quietly, using her training to make sure she didn’t make a sound._

_After walking around quietly for a few minutes, but then she saw it._

_Fear filled her completely when she saw_ him _but she forced herself to calm down._

_He was older, but he had aged well. He was wearing a uniform that hugged his body and showed that he was still strong._

_“Erik?” She called out, more of a whisper._

_He turned around with confusion and curiosity shown on his face. The helmet was missing and she could vaguely feel his emotions._

_“Who are you?” Erik asked, power in every word._

_“I’m Alexandra.” She replied bravely._

_“And are you mutant or human? Why are you dressed like that?” He asked, moving metal to capture around her wrists._

_“Does it really matter?” She asked boldly._

_“Don’t be foolish, you know my name. You know what I do.” He answered with a bored expression._

_“If I say I’m human, will you kill me?” She asked._

_“Perhaps.” Erik answered truthfully, dragging her closer by her chains. “Or I can always use you to try my new project.”_

_“What project might that be?”_

_He chuckled at her slyly. “Do you really need to know?”_

_“If I’m going to be experimented on, then I think it would be nice.” She retorted easily._

_“You are stubborn aren’t you?” He grinned menacingly at her, showing all his teeth._

_She held her peace for a moment. “Did you kill all those people in the city I passed by?”_

_“They were just a few casualties of this war.” Erik replied with a glare._

_“How many people have to die before you’re satisfied?” Alexandra spat._

_“All of them.” He answered darkly._

_“There were dead mutant there too.” She growled at him. “You want to kill all of your so-called_ brothers _too?”_

_“Don’t test me, child!” He yelled at her._

_He composed himself. “What are you doing here?”_

_“I’m here to stop you.” Alexandra replied uneasily. “I have to stop you, I think.”_

_“And how are you going to do that?” Erik asked with a smirk. “You’re at my mercy.”_

_She gathered her courage and smiled him._

_Her training told her never to let Magneto see your fear. It was buzzing around her obnoxiously but if her abilities brought her here to end this, then she would._

_Erik growled at her, but she was quickly out of his chains with a thought._

_“You really should have checked to see if I was a mutant or not.” She said lifting herself easily with her telekinesis. “It’s not a mistake you usually make. You should have tried to kill me when you found out I infiltrated your fortress.”_

_Erik lifted metal towards her, throwing it at her violently at least to trap her, but every time a piece came close, she would use her abilities to throw it back down on the ground._

_“Stop.” Magneto said, not moving anymore metal. “Why don’t you join me?”_

_“What?” She asked skeptically._

_“You’re a mutant, and mutants will never be accepted by humans and their society. Join me and stop the humans from persecuting our kind.” He said. “Join your fellow mutant brothers and sisters in fighting for a new world. A fairer one.”_

_Alexandra hesitated._

_“Bet you say that to all the girls.” She winked at him._

_He startled a little and looked her up and down._

_“Will you join me?” He asked a bit more firm._

_“What about Charles?” Alexandra asked to see his reaction._

_He frowned, turning his head away but keeping his eye-contact with her._

_“What about him?”_

_“He’ll die for them.” Alexandra stated. “He’ll die trying to protect the humans.”_

_“Then he’ll die.” Magneto replied coldly._

_“On your head be it.” Alexandra told him bravely._

_He turned to look at her with fury in his eyes and anger etched into his very being. “He chooses to place himself on their side! If he dies, it will be his own fault. I gave him a choice a long time ago and even now he struggles against me. His death will be on their heads, not mine!”_

_Alexandra could pick up a feeling of sadness and hurt coming from him. It amazed her that his anger was secondary._

_“Why don’t you help Charles?” She asked quietly. “He would have loved to have your help.”_

_“What do you know about it?” He growled at her._

_“I know more than you think.” She replied with a raise of her eyebrows._

_“Either kill me, or get out.” Magneto turned his back and walked away._

Charles was suddenly pulled out and into a different memory, a battle field of mutant and humans, their ranks mixed together and fighting viciously.

_“ALEXANDRA GET AWAY FROM THERE!” Someone yelled._

_She kept running until a large being rammed into her. It was a large man, heavily and broadly built wearing a helmet on his head._

Charles pulled out of her head.

“I know that man!” He yelled backing away. “I know that face.”

Alexandra had tears spilling over her face, she’d spared Charles the bloodiest parts of the battle.

“The Juggernaut.” Alexandra sniffled. “He’s your step-brother.”

“How is he a mutant?” Charles demanded.

“I don’t know.” She answered honestly. “I’m sorry.”

Erik burst into the room. “What’s going on?”

“Woah, What are you doing in here?” Charles asked confused.

“Alexandra was screaming into my head.” Erik turned his worried look to the girl and went to check her.

“She’s fine. It’s an exercise, I should have been more careful.” Charles said.

“She’s not fine! You should know better and stay out of her head.” Erik moved to wrap his arms around her but she stopped him with a bit of hesitation.

“I won’t let you hold me if you’re being a dick.” She admonished.

Erik backed away and stood straighter. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine, Charles was just going through some memories of mine.” Alexandra answered calmly. “Sorry for screaming into your head, I wasn’t trying to.”

“If you find a way to get back to your timeline, I’m going back with you and I’m going to kill them.” Erik promised threateningly.

“Erik, we aren’t finished.” Charles said with a hint of irritation. “You have to leave.”

“So that you can keep torturing her?” Erik asked challengingly.

“Erik, please.” Alexandra sighed. “I asked him to do this.”

“Then you aren’t as clever as I had thought.” Erik turned to her, clenching his jaw.

“Back off, Erik.” Charles warned.

Erik lifted his hands in a show of surrender but he wasn’t happy. He glared at both of them as he left.

“Sorry, I’ll try to keep my thought to myself.” Alexandra apologized once he was gone.

“He’s very protective of you, I thinks that’s good for him to have.” Charles said as a reply.

Alexandra twitched a smile but lay back down. “Shall we?”

Charles moved to delve back into her mind and sighed, to prepare himself.

_The Juggernaut was breaking through walls and tearing things apart. Alexandra recovered and lifted him with her abilities, throwing him towards a burly man with metal claws._

_“Logan, handle this!” She called._

_Logan ran at him but was clearly not much of a match. He regenerated quickly but the other man might as well have been made of stone for all the harm Logan could inflict._

_A young red haired lady, apparently also telekinetic, was struggling to deflect things being thrown at a bald old man in a wheelchair. It was Charles._

_“Jean, help Kitty and Scott get to Magneto before he makes things worse than they already are.” Charles told her confidently._

_“But Professor, you won’t have anyone here to protect you.” Jean hesitated._

_“I’ll have Alexandra, she always seems to be keeping an eye on me.” Charles turned to face Alexandra now with a smile._

_“I’ll take care of the Professor, you go.” She assured Jean._

_Trash and metal were thrown about, explosions were everywhere, but Alexandra did her best to keep Charles safe, as well as help the other X-Men struggling against Erik’s Brotherhood of Mutants._

_Magneto showed himself again, moving all of the human’s weapons and tanks toward the X-Men._

_Alexandra could tell that Charles was trying to communicate with Magneto, his focus was on him and one of the mutants next to him was talking, saying things that didn’t make Magneto very happy._

_“He’s going to cause an explosion to wipe them all out, he wants me to leave and call my X-Men back with me.” Charles sighed._

_Alexandra didn’t think, she just yelled. “WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE! FALL BACK!”_

_Some of them listened, but older ones stayed behind as if they hadn’t heard anything._

_She teleported Charles to safety, removing him from the battlefield despite his protests._

_“Take me back, Alexandra!” Charles demanded. “I won’t leave them!”_

_“You aren’t. I’m going back for them!” She promised, she teleported away._

_She was back on the field immediately. “Magneto’s going to blow us all up! We have to go!”_

_“Sorry, kid. I’m not going anywhere.” Logan said as he fought one of the Brotherhood’s mutants._

_“Storm! Scott! C’mon!” She practically begged._

_“You’re kinda new so we won’t blame you for leaving, but we aren’t running away. Not anymore.” Scott replied, blasting red plasma at the enemy._

_Alexandra ran to Magneto. “Don’t do this!”_

_“Sacrifices must be made for the good of mutant-kind.” He answered darkly. “You should have joined me when you had the chance.”_

_She grabbed him with her telekinesis and threw him into the battlefield._

_He was hurt but reached out to throw metal back at her._

_“Stop this!” She screamed._

_Erik used all of his power to aim the metal at her, and one piece she couldn’t deflect landed in her throat, almost cutting off her head._

_“I’m doing what I must.” He said as he passed by her twitching body._

_The weapons turned to face the X-Men and fired. Alexandra panicked but could do nothing in so much pain. The explosion was large and loud, they all went flying in different directions, all except Magneto who had used metal to protect himself._

Charles pulled his mind away. “Well you aren’t dead.”

“I can regenerate.” Alexandra replied with a sniffle as she got up. “While we’re at it you should know that I can teleport and shape-shift too.”

“What?” Charles asked confused.

“They captured Mystique and they found a way to give me her mutation. They did the same but worse to Azazel. Erik doesn’t know about it, and I’d rather he doesn’t so that I don’t have to explain it.” Alexandra answered.

She was still shaking and tears were streaming down her face.

“How did you get back to us?” Charles asked, moving to sit next to her for comfort.

“When I woke up, he was gone. Everyone was dead.” Her voice broke and she tried to regain composure. “I couldn’t be there anymore and I reached out for Reese. I found myself being pulled towards something and it was a kind of portal that when I stepped inside I found myself back here. Right where Reese was.”

Charles nodded, and silently asked for permission to hold her. She answered by holding onto him tightly and crying into his chest.

“I’m sorry.” Charles apologized. “I should have been here.”

“Take them away.” Alexandra begged. “I don’t want these memories. Please take them away from me.”

Charles didn’t answer, just held her close.

Someone knocked on the door, Charles could feel Erik and Reese’s minds.

“Come in.” He called.

“Is she okay?” Reese was the first to enter and move to sit next to her and rub small circles on her back. “Erik said you were going through her memories, what did you see?”

Erik quietly watched from the door, obviously waiting for Charles to respond.

“Where she was this past week.” Charles answered, refusing to let go of her.

In truth, he needed the comfort just as much as she did. He’d felt her pain and her sadness. But in the midst of all of the chaos and trauma, she never once felt anger. She’d felt the need to protect, to fix, to help. He couldn’t really understand, but he knew that she couldn’t have killed Erik, no matter how badly he messed up. She needed him to find another way that didn’t end with death.

“What did she see?” Erik asked, more of a demand. 

“She saw pain and death.” Charles answered, holding back a snarl.

“Charles,” She tapped his arm gently without letting go. “Don’t be angry.”

After everything, Charles could at least grant her that.

“May I?” Erik asked moving closer, but Charles tightened his grip.

“I think it’s best if you don’t.” Charles warned, more because he wasn’t sure if she would be okay with it, but it came out a tad bit harsh.

Alexandra pulled away and nodded. “It’s fine, Charles.”

Erik was confused and a bit offended. “Then I guess I’m not needed.”

“Erik, come here.” Alexandra said, giving him a tiny smile and he listened.

She scooted Reese to the farthest end of the couch and shoved a bit at Charles to make room for Erik.

It was a tight fit when Erik sat between Charles and Alexandra, but she cuddled into his arms and he didn’t mind so much. He made sure to move closer to her and leave Charles a bit more room, even though it crushed Reese against the other end.

“You’re a good man, Erik.” She said quietly.

His chest tightened and he held her closer. She reached out to grab Charles’ hand and Erik was suddenly hyper-aware of the close proximity of their two bodies. He forced himself not to flush.

She reached out for his hand and forced it to meet Charles’.

“You two are at your bests together.” She said with a peace that was a bit surprising.

Erik wanted to move his hand away from Charles, he knew that physical contact made it easier for Charles to enter his mind, but he kept their hands touching for Alexandra’s sake.

He tried to control his thoughts though, keeping all of his feelings toward Charles at a safe distance.

“I think we’re all at our bests together.” Charles corrected.

_Yes, of course you wouldn’t want to be isolated with me._

“Yes, mutants together will be unbeatable.” Erik tried to answer even if he was grumbling in his head.

Charles gave him an odd look but he swiftly changed his expression.

“You’re both dumb but at least you’re adorable.” Alexandra laughed lightly, even with her puffy eyes. 

She moved away from Erik, keeping his hand held onto Charles’ and moved to lean on Reese.

Reese seemed extremely uncomfortable, smushed into the corner.

 _Good._ Erik thought.

“Reese, I’m okay.” Alexandra smiled at him, her face still tear-stained.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened? You were a wreck that first night.” Reese asked gently, but hurt leaked into his voice.

“I’m okay now, it doesn’t matter.” She reassured.

Charles knew it wasn’t true. He knew that she was still in pain. Alexandra was suffering PTSD and even if he removed her memories, she wouldn’t be alright. If anything, she would suffer more because she wouldn’t know what it was that she was terrified of.

Maybe the first time she had travelled had been for lack of sleep, but the other times were most likely from her psyche trying to find a calm place away from the mutants she had been taught were the enemy.

Charles also knew that Alexandra didn’t want people to worry about her. She needed others to be okay before herself.

_Is it okay to let go? Do I still hold his hand? This is strange._

Erik’s voice whispered into Charles’ head, even though Erik hadn’t tried to. Despite Charles’ best efforts, the temptation was there. It would be the easiest thing in the world to silently sneak into Erik’s mind without noticing, especially when touching him and being this close.

_What if he can hear me? No, that’s ridiculous. Alexandra says he stays out of my head._

Charles pulled back softly, not to alert him to his ever being there and felt a bit guilty.

He still couldn’t resist and pushed back in gently.

_Charles if you can hear me, nod._

Charles didn’t nod.

_Good. Okay. I just have to stay quiet. I wonder how Alexandra’s actually doing. I suppose only she and Charles know and she won’t tell me. If she knows Reese then she won’t tell her pet what she’s actually feeling either. Damned lackey._

Charles looked at Reese. He was fussing over her and stroking at her hair gently. Fawning over her. He resisted a smile. This was a serious situation.

_I’ve changed, and she accepts that. I’m sure she’ll make sure I don’t make any more mistakes, at least not ones that ruin everyone’s lives._

A wave of Erik’s regret and sadness passed over Charles’ consciousness and he turned to look at Erik. Worry was still on his face but something a bit like gratitude was in a twitch of a smile that he had when he looked at Alexandra.

_I think I owe her more than I’ll ever know. I’m not sure how to go about telling her though, I can try to show her. She’s good, and she’s brave, but I can see that she’s not alright. She’s been through too much but I’ll understand if she won’t tell me. It’s not even my place._

Erik sighed and looked down at the floor.

_I’ll kill any bastard that tries to harm her. I’ll kill them even if she won’t forgive me for it._

Charles felt Erik’s grip tighten on his hand but it let go as if burned when looked at their joined hands. Erik stood up quickly, now that Alexandra wasn’t leaning on him.

He pulled out of Erik’s mind silently.

“Are you done here? I’m sure we intruded but when Erik told me what was going on, I had to come and check on her.” Reese said, letting go of Alexandra and standing up.

“I think we’re done for today.” Charles said, looking meaningfully at Alexandra.

“Yea, I think I’ve had enough.” She said with a teary smile, putting on a brave face and laughing it all off as she stood.

“Yes, I think she has.” Charles nodded.

“It’s late now and I saw Raven attempting to cook dinner. We should wash up and head to the dining room.” Erik informed them before leaving.

“He has a point, let’s get cleaned up.” Charles ordered gesturing for Reese and Alexandra to exit the room.

Once they were gone, he let out a heavy sigh, trying to take in what he had seen in Alexandra’s mind.

It wasn’t this Erik. He could remember that. It was a different time and different circumstances. Everyone can turn bad without proper guidance or help. It wasn’t _his_ Erik.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, hopefully either next chapter or the chapter after that, Charles and Erik will be something more. Depending on how it goes when I write. Soon, anyways.


	4. Chapter 4

_Erik._

A voice was calling Erik and he sat upright, listening for the sound.

_Erik._

“Alexandra?” Erik called, getting out of bed.

_Help me._

He ran down the hall to her shared room with Reese.

_Erik, please!_

Her voice was growing more desperate and he realized that it was in his head. He rattled the doorknob and found that the door was locked.

He used his ability to unlock the door and burst in to find Reese passed out on the other side of the room with blood coming out of the side of his head and a bruise swelling. Alexandra was tossing and turning in the air, still asleep but levitating. 

“Alexandra, you have to wake up.” Erik called, edging towards her slowly.

A giant portal opened on her bed, beneath her, sucking her in.

“Alexandra!” Erik cried, grabbing her by the waist to pull her away. “You have to wake up!”

A force pushed at him but he refused to let go. A piercing screech echoed in his mind, and he felt blood trickling out of his ears.

_I can’t go back. Don’t let it take me back._

Erik couldn’t hold on any longer, the screeching hurt too badly and he felt himself losing control of his ability. The metal in the room was spinning around them, unsure of what to do.

His grip on Alexandra was slipping and she was half-way through the portal, he couldn’t hold on.

He held her even tighter and let the portal take him with her.

~

Charles awoke to the strange feeling of something missing.

_Erik?_

He searched for his mutant friend’s mind, but found that it was no longer in the mansion.

“Dammit, Erik. Did you put that blasted helmet back on? Alexandra will not be pleased with this.” He muttered, rolling out of bed with a sigh.

“One of these days, just talking him down might not be enough for her.” He said, yawning and opening his closet to decide which cardigan to wear for the day.

Once he had showered and changed, he opened his mind to see if any of the others were awake yet. He had been trying not to invade their dreams since he accidentally let himself into one of Sean’s about living quite domestically with Alexandra. Charles didn’t want to meddle in the affairs of anyone’s heart.

He found though, that along with Erik, Alexandra was also missing. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time that she shut him out in her sleep, it was rather instinctual by now, but Reese was still in the house and Alexandra had taken to protecting Reese’s mind as though it were her own.

_Reese._

Charles called to wake the young man.

Reese hadn’t fallen asleep of his own accord, he had been knocked unconscious. If Charles hadn’t learned to discern the differences in the feeling, he might have not been concerned. But Reese’s last memory was one of Alexandra levitating, violently thrashing and tossing things. One of the things she threw hit Reese on the head when he tried to calm her down and wake her, and he had been knocked out.

As Charles felt around, only Raven was awake, counting her brushstrokes for the day.

_Raven, I need you to wake Hank and the others. I think something’s wrong._

“What happened?” She asked, knowing that he was still listening for her.

_I’m not sure, but Reese has been knocked unconscious and Erik and Alexandra are missing._

“Maybe they just ran off together.” Raven shrugged. “Sean caught them together in the gym the other day, maybe they’re just looking for some privacy.”

Charles felt a strange twist in his stomach at her words. Erik hadn’t said anything about doing anything with Alexandra in the gym, but then again, why would he?

_She wouldn’t harm Reese, he’s like a brother to her._

“You don’t think that I’d knock you out if you were as over-protective of me as he is of her?” She scoffed. “I’m sure everything is fine and you’re worrying about nothing.”

_Could you just wake them, please?_

“Fine, fine.” She shrugged. “But if it’s nothing, you better start working on your apology for waking us up this early.”

Charles sighed, exasperated. He thought it best not to answer.

~

The screeching was gone and the sun was up, but Erik couldn’t tell where he was, or where Alexandra had gone.

“Alexandra?” He called with a groan, it felt as though he had been thrown out of a window.

He got up and looked around, only to find her passed out in the middle of a road.

There weren’t many cars, but Erik ran to get her to a safer place before there were. He picked her up and carried her to a nearby bench.

“Reese?” She asked drowsily. 

“No.” Erik sighed, brushing her hair out of her face. “Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s just Erik.”

“Erik?!” Alexandra got up with a start and scooted away from him fearfully.

“Woah, calm down.” Erik said, putting his hands up.

“What are you doing here?” She asked cautiously. “Do you recognize me?”

Erik sighed and nodded. “You called for me in your sleep and I got sucked into a portal with you. I have a few questions about that.”

“You shouldn’t be here.” She said, staring at the ground with wide eyes. “You could change things. I don’t know where we are or what century or- Oh, Erik what if you die here?”

Alexandra stared up at him with fear and concern.

“You just have to take us back home.” Erik told her with what he hoped was an assuring grin. “You can control it.”

“I’ve never been able to control it, don’t you get that?” She scoffed. “It controls me. It takes me wherever it feels like going.”

“It’s a part of you,” Erik told her firmly. “You have to embrace it as such or else it won’t work. It’s just like your other abilities except you’ve been trying to restrain it. You’re scared of it.”

Alexandra stared at him for a while before rolling her eyes. “Sure, I’ll just click my heels three times and say ‘there’s no place like home’.”

Erik sighed and shook his head, getting more and more exasperated. “This isn’t a game.”

“No, but I’m not just suddenly gonna learn how to control my ability because you happened to travel with me this time!” She yelled.

Erik glared at her. “But you could at least show me that you’ve been trying.”

She sighed angrily and looked down. “Fine. But I didn’t sleep well so we’re getting coffee first.”

“Does coffee really take precedent to getting home?” Erik asked, irritated.

“Usually no, but seeing as I finally landed in a universe that isn’t covered in trash and dead bodies, I think I can allow myself the luxury of caffeine before trying to get back to Reese.”

Erik looked at her in confusion.

Alexandra sighed. “Please?”

“Alright.” Erik caved.

“Great!” Alexandra skipped past him. “I see a quaint little shop over there.”

Erik sighed and followed.

As they walked, Alexandra bumped his arm.

“What?” Erik asked.

“First rule of dimension hopping: you don’t recognize or know anyone.” She replied.

Erik paused and gave her another confused look.

“Like, if you see a Nazi or Shaw or Sean.” Alexandra explained. “Anyone that you might think you know? You don’t. And they don’t know you.”

Erik continued walking.

“Hey!” Alexandra said, following after him.

“I understand.” Erik assured her as he opened the door.

“Good.” She smiled at him as she entered.

It was nice in the small coffee shop; smelled of a fresh roast, and baked goods. Erik was surprised that it was quiet.

“Coffee!” Alexandra said, rushing up to the counter.

A blond who looked like Raven turned around with a smile.

“What can I get for you?” Not-Raven asked.

“Two coffees and a piece of pie.” Alexandra ordered pointing at an apple pie, then turned to Erik. “Do you want a pastry?”

“No, just the coffee.” Erik smiled tightly as Not-Raven poured coffee and got a slice of pie.

“He’ll have a chocolate chip cookie.” Alexandra grinned.

“Alright, that’ll be $8.50.” Not-Raven said, ringing them up.

“You don’t have a nametag.” Erik observed.

“Oh, no.” She looked down and sighed. “I knew I forgot something. Sorry, I’m Raven.”

Erik’s forehead creased in confusion.

“Here you are.” Alexandra interrupted, handing Raven a few bills. “Thanks, Raven.”

“No problem.” Raven smiled kindly.

Before Erik could make a comment, Alexandra gripped his arm and moved him towards an empty table.

“Raven?” Erik asked her.

“You don’t know her here.” Alexandra reminded him.

Just then, the store door opened. Charles walked in with a big smile on his face as he walked to the counter.

“YOU LIAR!” Raven accused.

“I did not lie.” Charles defended. “I honestly didn’t think that I would make it but I was let out at the last minute.”

“You could have called!” Raven smiled, pulling Charles into a warm hug.

“Yes, but then you wouldn’t be surprised and yelling at me.” Charles teased.

“I’m not yelling.” Raven rolled her eyes.

“I beg to differ.” Charles smiled, turning to Erik. “Excuse me, was this insane young woman yelling at me or not?”

Erik froze and turned to Alexandra.

“See?” Charles continued, turning back to Raven. “You’ve frightened him.”

Alexandra snorted and Erik glared at her.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, honestly, Raven.” Charles smirked. “He’s quite handsome too. Leave it to you to scare away the really attractive ones.”

“Charles!” Raven smacked his arm. “He can hear you.”

“Yes…” Charles took a moment to think as he stared at Erik for a few moments.

“I think he likes you.” Alexandra whispered to Erik.

Erik was not amused.

“Pardon.” Charles said, walking towards their table. “My name is Charles. You wouldn’t happen to want some company, would you?”

“I already have company.” Erik grumbled.

“Not for long.” Alexandra stood up, offering Charles her seat. “I’m gonna go do that thing, remember? The thing I was gonna do after coffee?”

“Alexandra.” Erik warned. 

“I don’t want to disturb you.” Charles apologized, backing away.

“Nonsense!” Alexandra exclaimed. “Erik is just a bit weird about socializing.”

Charles watched Erik carefully for any indication to leave, but Erik didn’t really want him to leave and nodded.

“Take a seat.” Erik sighed before turning to Alexandra. “Don’t leave me here.”

“He means for good.” Alexandra clarified for Charles. “And I wouldn’t do that, I’ll be right around the corner. I’ll come back.”

Charles sat down and smiled at Erik. 

“Hello.” Erik said awkwardly.

“I’m sorry about the first impression I must have given you.” Charles apologized. “I have a fondness for my coffee supplier. I’m here constantly and if I don’t tell Raven that I can’t make it then she worries.”

“Is she your sister?” Erik asked, wondering how different things were in this universe.

“God no!” Charles laughed. “No, I just met her last year. Though at times it feels as though I’ve known her for ages. We actually tried dating a bit when we first met, which led to awkward moments and days without coffee and energy, but we worked it out. We’re just friends now.”

“She’s beautiful.” Erik observed. “What went wrong if I may ask?”

“Ah.” Charles chuckled awkwardly, but seemed ready to reply when the door opened and Moira walked in with a suitcase and walked right up to Charles, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

A hot flare ran through Erik’s body and he found himself angry or disappointed. He couldn’t decide which one or why.

“Hello, Moira.” Charles smiled. “I would like for you to meet… She said your name was Erik, correct?”

“Yes.” Erik nodded, trying not to glare at Moira. Of course, Charles and Moira would be together.

“Nice you meet you.” Moira said kindly, offering her hand. “I’m Moira.”

“Hello.” Erik coughed, standing up. “Would you like to sit down? I should get going.”

“I didn’t mean to scare you away.” Moira teased.

“I’m not being scared away.” Erik assured her. “I just have other places to be. I didn’t intend to stay here this long.”

“Right, of course.” Charles apologized. “I’m sorry. Well, it was nice meeting you. I hope to see you again.”

“Likewise.” Erik nodded before heading out the door.

Once he was outside, Erik took a deep breath and looked around.

The door opened and Charles came out.

“Would you like my phone number?” Charles asked awkwardly. “And if that seems a bit to forward, then I’m here most days at the same time.”

Erik looked back inside to see Moira getting a cup of coffee from a reluctant Raven.

“I don’t have a phone.” Erik shrugged. 

“Oh.” Charles bit his lip and looked down. “Then I guess- Alright then.”

Erik nodded and walked down the street, just to get away.

As he turned a corner, Alexandra surprised him with a jump.

“So, how’d it go?” She asked.

“It went fine.” Erik replied. “Now can we go back to _my_ Charles?”

“You have a Charles?” Alexandra teased. 

Erik glared. “You know what I mean.”

“What happened?” Alexandra asked, concerned.

“Nothing.” Erik rolled his eyes. “Focus.”

“I don’t know how.” Alexandra confessed. “I was trying, but I don’t think my powers work here.”

Erik glared at her.

“This has never happened before.” Alexandra told him. “I think we’re stuck here.”

“How can that happen?” Erik asked, slightly panicked.

“This universe doesn’t have mutants or powers.” She explained. “I think that’s why Raven didn’t look like the real Raven.”

Erik shook his head and tried to feel for metal.

“It’s not there, is it?” Alexandra asked.

“I don’t feel it.” Erik said, stretching his hands out for any sign of metal. “I see metal right there, why don’t I feel it?”

“We don’t have abilities here.” Alexandra clenched her fists.

Erik closed his eyes tightly.

“I’m so sorry.” Alexandra said, reaching for one of his hands.

She turned it over in hers until he looked down at her.

Erik sighed and held her hand tightly. “We’ll find a way.”

She smiled up at him. “We should find a place to stay. And find out what year it is.”

“What kind of money did you pay with?” Erik asked curiously.

“The same kind I’m gonna use to get you some real clothing.” Alexandra grinned.

Erik realized that he was still in his sleeping outfit and glared at Alexandra again. She had changed apparently, opted instead for a t-shirt and tight jeans. He was still in his slippers and she was wearing converse.

“Come on.” Alexandra pulled him into a thrift shop. “I traded, so can you.”

Erik looked around and picked out a few articles of clothing.

“Nope.” Alexandra took them from him and gave him a pair of old jeans and sneakers. “It’s a trade. You’re not gonna get fancy clothes for pajamas.”

“I don’t-” Erik started.

“I don’t like it either, but I’ll get you some better clothing when I figure out how to get more money.” Alexandra interrupted.

“How did you get money for coffee?” Erik asked.

“I pickpocketed the guy that walked past us.” Alexandra said guiltily.

“What?” Erik gave her a skeptical look. “Which one?”

“Before getting into the coffee shop, a guy was walking past us and I took his wallet.” Alexandra shrugged.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” Erik asked. 

“The guards at the facility used to carry around pictures of their families in their wallets.” She explained. “I liked that. It reminded me that they were just guys doing their jobs so they could go home.”

“Just men following orders.” Erik’s face darkened.

“I’m gonna go see if I can sneak the money out of the register while you distract him.” Alexandra said, watching him carefully as she walked away.

“Deviant.” Erik shook his head but distracted the thrift shop worker nonetheless.

~

“She must have traveled somewhere again but taken Erik with her this time.” Reese shrugged, staring down at his plate while they ate breakfast.

“I’m sure they're fine, Reese.” Hank assured him.

“Why didn’t she take you?” Raven asked. “I mean, you were already in the room with her so why take Erik?”

“She likes Erik.” Sean grumbled. “You should’ve seen them in the gym. They’re… close.”

Charles cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Alright, enough. There’s nothing we can do so I suggest we continue training. Finish your breakfast.”

“What happened in the gym?” Raven asked Sean, challenging Charles.

“Who cares?” Alex smirked. “She’s a carefree person. She flirts a bit. And even if it’s more serious than that, it’s not our business. Why do you care anyways? You flirt with Hank and no one’s gossiping about that even though we know you’re just playing with the Bozo.”

“Hey!” Raven slammed her hand on the table.

“Raven, please.” Charles said. “Alex.”

“I happen to care about everyone here. We don’t even know who she is or what she’ll do to him.” Raven continued.

“Yeah, you care about us so much.” Alex scoffed. “That’s why you were gonna ditch us in Cuba.”

“That is not fair. I stayed.” Raven reminded him.

“Because of Alexandra.” Alex reminded her. “Because she told Erik to stay and he did. I don’t even know why you were going to leave with him. It’s not like you’ve shown a real interest in him, or that his views are something that are really agreeable with.”

“Alex has a point.” Sean pitched in. “Why were you going to go with him? I mean, Charles had just been shot.”

“I’m not surprised.” Alex shook his head. “It’s just like Angel leaving even though it got Darwin killed. They didn’t think and they didn’t care. They went with the guy that was gonna make them feel pretty.”

“Hey.” Angel interrupted.

“You have something to say?” Alex stood up. “You got Darwin killed and that’s not okay. He died because he was trying to protect you.”

“You’re the one that got him killed. I didn’t ask to be ‘saved’ but you or anyone. I made my choice.” Angel stood up. “You took it upon yourself to take on Shaw and it was your plasma that killed him. You knew my choice and you didn’t respect it. Darwin’s death is on you.”

“Everyone sit down and be quiet.” Charles demanded loudly. “What happened in the past should stay there.”

“Yeah, well maybe it shouldn’t.” Alex shook his head and pushed his chair back. “History has a way of repeating itself. Raven leaving after Erik got you shot would’ve been the same as Angel leaving after getting Darwin killed. Maybe the lesson is not to trust women ever again.”

“Alexandra is innocent in all this.” Sean pitched in.

“Funny word to use for a girl who took one of the most powerful mutants and disappeared with him.” Alex scoffed before leaving.

Reese chased after him.

“Reese, get back here please.” Charles called, but Reese ignored him.

“Alexandra is the nicest person I’ve ever known.” Reese said, fuming as he followed after Alex. “She’s not like Raven or Angel. She’ll fight for humans until she dies. She’ll fight for fairness and equality. She is so much more powerful than you can even imagine and you have no right to-”

“Hey.” Alex turned around in annoyance. “This isn’t about her. This is about my friends betraying each other. I don’t get along well with people and I decided to try just this once and two of them have already let me down. I don’t have my hopes up about any of them or you. I know that she doesn’t need Erik. I’ve seen her hold him down with a mere thought. That kind of power is dangerous and he’s a hair trigger. If anything, I’m worried about her. She’s got a lot of power, but Raven has a strong character and Erik was able to convince her to join him. Maybe they shouldn’t come back. If they do, they might destroy the world.”

“Magneto’s tried to recruit her before.” Reese told him. “She’ll never join him.”

“Did she ever ignore you for him before? Did she know him as Erik? As someone who she took walks with and talked with?” Alex asked. “She’s tossing you aside for him, just like Raven was gonna leave Charles.”

“You’re wrong.” Reese shook his head.

“They both have unbelievable charisma and power that few people can match.” Alex shook his head. “I know you’re hoping that she’ll convince him to do the right thing but he’s been through a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up thinking like him every now and then before finally deciding that he’s right.”

“No.” Reese grabbed Alex by the front of his shirt. “She knows better.”

“She’s seen what he can do.” Alex sighed. “She probably knows better than any of us. She’s sweet and kind right now, but just wait until he gets into her head. You don’t seem to get that he’s Shaw in training.”

Reese let Alex go. “I know exactly who Magneto is, but I believe in her. I have to. She’s the only hope that any of us have left.”

Alex sighed and shook his head before walking away.

~

“I think I found you a job!” Alexandra exclaimed as she read through a newspaper.

Erik looked at her judgmentally.

“I can’t keep stealing from people and we don’t know how long we’re gonna be here.” Alexandra shrugged. “I’m gonna apply for a waitressing job. You should find something too.”

“What’s the job?” Erik asked, begrudgingly.

“Melting metal.” She smiled at him. “You melt the metal down and then it’s put into a mold for construction.”

Erik just stared at her.

“You like metal.” Alexandra added.

“I like moving metal around with my abilities.” Erik reminded her. “Abilities that I don’t currently have.”

“So you don’t want to look into it?” Alexandra asked.

Erik took the newspaper out of her hands and walked over to the bed that he had decided on. 

Alexandra had used some of the money she had… acquired… to set them up for a week in a motel. She then took Erik shopping to get him clothing that he would be comfortable in and bought hygiene supplies at a nearby store.

“We’re gonna need money.” She reminded him. “And we can’t just stay here all the time. We should go out and explore the world, see what’s out there.”

“No.” Erik shook his head. “We are staying here for a week until you find a way to get our abilities to work and then you will take us home.”

Alexandra looked down guiltily. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t even be here, this is my fault.”

“Alexandra.” Erik said, getting her attention. “I much more prefer being stuck here with you than being worried about you at the mansion while you’re stuck here alone.”

She smiled at him gratefully. “Still, I should be able to control it better.”

“You will someday.” Erik assured her. “For now, we can adjust to the life we’ve been confined to.”

“Hey, tomorrow we should go back to that coffee shop.” Alexandra said, changing the subject. “Maybe Charles will be there.”

“He’s not really Charles.” Erik reminded her.

“Yeah, he is.” Alexandra smiled. “He’s just a little bit different. He hasn’t been through the same things but I’m sure that if you just tried to hold an actual conversation with him, you’d see that it’s really him.”

“It’s not Charles.” Erik shook his head. “This one went out with Raven.”

“Wow, you already know about his love life? You work fast.” Alexandra teased.

“He was offering information that I never asked for.” Erik clarified. “However, this one seems to be in a relationship with Moira. I think that perhaps if circumstances were different, then our Charles would be too.”

“No, you’re probably right. It’s not Charles.” Alexandra smiled. “Why would Charles date Raven?”

“It didn’t work out.” Erik shrugged. 

“What’s wrong?” Alexandra asked, seeing his expression.

“He didn’t recognize me.” Erik scoffed at himself. 

“The people you know in one universe might not be the same ones you know in a different one.” Alexandra told him.

“He knows Moira and Raven.” Erik pointed out. 

“So? Where are Sean and Alex and Hank?” Alexandra pointed out. “Things can be a little weird.”

“How often do you fall into a universe where Charles and I don’t know each other?” Erik asked.

“I think that this would be the first actually…” Alexandra said thoughtfully. “But there are a lot of different things about this one.”

Erik nodded.

~

After the week passed, Erik was getting antsy.

“I got the job, I’ll use my tips to cover the room payment.” Alexandra assured him. “We’ll find a way back home.”

Erik himself had been working on making his ability work and grilled Alexandra into forcing her own. The week had passed with little progress. A small portal had been made but Alexandra had been too tired to be able to expand it. However, at least they knew that it was possible.

“Breakfast is on me.” Alexandra said, waving a twenty-dollar bill. “I got a big tipper last night.”

“They have coffee and bread in the lobby.” Erik reminded her.

“But I want good coffee and a brownie.” Alexandra pouted.

“Then get us home.” Erik raised his eyebrows. “Try to make a portal.”

“I’m too tired.” Alexandra sighed. 

Erik glared at her.

“Seriously!” Alexandra exclaimed. “I’ll try to after the brownie. It’ll get my energy up for the day.”

“It’s been a week.” Erik reminded her.

“So? I was gone for a month and it was only a few days for you guys the last time.” Alexandra shrugged.

“Then maybe if you get us home now, we’ll only have been gone a day.” Erik said pointedly.

“Fine. Stay here then.” Alexandra said, opening the door. “I’m gonna get my brownie. I think I earned it.”

Erik sighed and followed after her, ignoring how pleased she seemed with herself that he had come along.

Before they could enter the coffee shop, Alexandra stopped him.

Erik looked inside to find Charles talking to someone who looked like Erik.

“Well, guess they know each other.” Alexandra looked up to Erik with wide eyes.

Erik watched the scene in fascination. Charles was cocky but relaxed, leaning towards the other Erik easily. The other Erik seemed to be unaware of his own smile as he tried to look annoyed, but his posture was slightly bent towards Charles as well.

“Well, I guess we can’t go in.” Erik shrugged, trying to hide how freaked he really was.

“Sure we can.” Alexandra said, but she seemed hesitant. “I really want that brownie.”

“We can get one when we get home.” Erik said, walking away.

Alexandra gripped him by the arm and they were inside before Erik had a chance to pull away.

Erik had expected Charles or the other Erik to turn to the door and realize that something was wrong but instead the other Erik leaned back and watched Charles with fascination while Charles laughed at something.

“Like looking into a funhouse mirror.” Alexandra said as they walked up to the counter. 

“What can I do for ya?” Sean asked as he whipped around until he saw Alexandra and paused. “Wow. Hi. Can I get you- yeah.”

Erik coughed loudly.

“Two coffees and a brownie with a plate of cookies.” Alexandra smiled. 

“Coming right up.” Sean grinned excitedly. 

He hurried around the back as he put the order together.

Alexandra reached for Erik’s hand when she noticed that he kept turning back to the table where the other Erik and Charles seemed to be getting closer by the second.

“Here you- oh.” Sean looked at were their hands were joined and braved a smile. “That’s gonna be some money.” 

“I thought it might.” Alexandra smiled, letting go of Erik to pull out the money. “How much?”

“It’s $9.45.” Sean said, hiding a blush as he accepted the money. 

“Where’s Raven?” Alexandra asked to make conversation.

“She doesn’t work today.” Sean shrugged. “I think that’s why Charles is getting so cozy with- hang on. Wow, your boyfriend looks a lot like Charles’.”

“Erik’s not my boyfriend.” Alexandra started laughing.

“Got the same name- he’s not?” Sean perked up. “Do you- you wouldn’t happen- so where is your boyfriend?”

“I don’t have one.” Alexandra smiled.

“You look like someone who should have one.” Sean nodded.

“Excuse me?” Alexandra asked.

“I just meant- not that you need one- I was just saying-.” Sean babbled.

“If you’re done making an idiot of yourself, we’re going to leave.” Erik interrupted. “And that man is not Charles’ boyfriend. Perhaps just a trusted friend.” 

“Erik.” Alexandra glared at him.

Erik marched out of the coffee shop without another word.

“I’m sorry about that.” Alexandra apologized as she picked up her coffee and sweets. “He’s had a rough week.”

“Will I ever see you again?” Sean asked.

“I don’t know.” Alexandra shrugged. “Hopefully.”

Sean smiled and she ran after Erik.

Erik was fuming on the bus bench.

“Hey, you want some coffee?” Alexandra asked, handing him a cup.

Erik took the cup but kept his silence.

“So I guess now you know that being gay isn’t such a big deal in the future.” Alexandra smiled awkwardly.

“I got an inkling back in Cuba.” Erik sighed before taking a sip of his coffee.

“What?” Alexandra asked, confused.

“When you yelled at me to take Charles to the hospital.” Erik reminded her. “You called him my boyfriend.”

“Oh.” Alexandra looked down.

“I thought you were being offensive as an incentive.” Erik shook his head.

“So… are you?” Alexandra asked awkwardly.

Erik turned to her in confused horror.

“It can’t be worse than being a mutant.” Alexandra scoffed. “If you’re gonna be an abomination, might as well go all the way.”

Erik looked away from her and shook his head.

“Sorry.” She apologized. “It’s okay if you’re gay, you know? It’s the way you were born.”

“I didn’t say that I was.” Erik glared.

“You didn’t say that you weren’t either.” Alexandra shrugged. “I’m just saying that if every now and then you get a little bit hot for a guy and wanna get in his pants, then that’s okay.”

“Stop.” Erik shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Hey, at least Sean thought that you were my boyfriend and not my dad, huh?” Alexandra teased to change the subject. “I mean, I see a young girl holding hands with an older guy, I think father-daughter.”

Erik glared at her but it wasn’t as harsh.

“You look good for your age.” Alexandra bumped his arm a little.

“Let’s go make that portal.” Erik stood up. “We can finish our breakfast in the room.”

Alexandra nodded and followed him.

~

Charles was struggling to keep the children calm after the breakfast argument. Sean was sulking in his room while Angel and Janos went out. Alex was working out in the gym and closed the door so no one would join him, whereas Raven went out for a run and Hank worked on the plane in the lab. Charles hadn’t heard from Reese since breakfast, but he seemed to still be in the house.

Charles reached out with his telepathy to check on Reese.

_Alexandra come home. Things are getting bad fast._

Reese was calling for Alexandra, hoping that she might reach out to him but Charles knew that she wouldn’t be able to hear him.

Charles’ reach only went so far as every person in the world and that was with Cerebro. Alexandra hadn’t mastered her telepathy, scared of something that Charles wasn’t sure of yet, so she wouldn’t be able to hear Reese from a different dimension. Of that, he was certain.

~

Alexandra was finally able to make a bigger portal, but she warned Erik from entering it.

“I’m not sure that it’ll take us back home.” She told him.

“Where else would it take us?” Erik asked.

“It could throw us anywhere, but honestly, it could always throw us around and we’d still come back here.” Alexandra sighed. “I can’t control it and I’m not sure how to.”

“Focus on something.” Erik supplied hesitantly. “If you focus on something or someone then you can go there, right?”

“That’s only worked the one time, and I think it was because Reese was looking for me too.” Alexandra bit her lip. “What if he isn’t this time?”

Erik smiled at her kindly. “I don’t agree with Reese on much. That’s mostly because he insists on being contrary but that is beside the point which is that he won’t stop looking for you. We both know how special you are.”

“Did I just get complimented by the great Magneto?” Alexandra beamed.

“No.” Erik shook his head. “I just told the truth.”

“Thanks.” Alexandra said before gripping his hand nervously. “We should hold on to each other in case we go flying into different dimensions.”

“That can happen?” Erik asked surprised.

Alexandra shrugged and jumped into the portal, pulling him with her.

~

Charles was in his study rearranging some books that he had loaned Hank when a portal opened next to him.

Erik was flung out first, almost hitting his head against the wall but something caught him. Alexandra followed, actually hitting the wall at the same time Erik was dropped onto the ground.

“Sorry.” She apologized. “I tried to stop you from getting hurt.”

Erik looked seasick.

“Are you two alright?” Charles asked, checking Erik first since he wasn’t as accustomed to the travel.

“I’m fine.” Erik waved him off. “Alexandra?”

“I’m okay too.” Alexandra smiled, carefully reaching into Charles’ mind with her own.

“What are you doing?” Charles asked, shutting her out.

“Do you know me?” Alexandra asked awkwardly.

“Of course I know you.” Charles squinted at her then turned to Erik. “Erik?”

“You don’t happen to be in a relationship with Erik, do you?” Alexandra asked.

Charles sputtered awkwardly for a bit. “Not a romantic one, no. At least not that I’m aware of.”

Erik sighed as he stood and sent Alexandra a tired glare while Charles chuckled nervously.

“Okay.” Alexandra smiled. “Where’s Reese?”

“Reese?” Charles asked, confused.

“My friend.” Alexandra turned to Erik worried.

Charles gave her a questioning look.

“Damn.” Erik cursed but picked up the closest metal object. “At least we have our abilities.”

“True.” Alexandra smiled.

“What’s going on?” Charles asked, reaching for their minds for answers.

Alexandra shielded them.

“We’re not from here, I don’t think.” Alexandra explained. “Not if you don’t know Reese.” 

“I’m afraid that I don’t.” Charles sighed. “But at least that explains why Erik was thrown across the room. You’re supposed to have better control of it and you aren’t telepathic either.”

“I’m not?” Alexandra asked. “Wait, how do you know me?”

“Through your mother.” Charles tried to remind her. “She’s one of my students. You sort of fell in here and decided to stay after you met her.”

“She is?” Alexandra smiled. “What- what does she do? What’s her name? What’s her ability?”

“Alexand-” Charles tried to interrupt her.

“Who’s my father?” Alexandra gasped, looking down.

“Alexandra.” Charles held up a hand and she froze. “Your mother’s name is Suzanne Chan, but we call her Sway. She has the ability of time control, as well as a form of retrocognitive projection.”

“That explains your ability.” Erik shrugged.

“I guess it does.” Alexandra nodded. “And my father?”

“It seems as though your father will be Calvin Montgomery Rankin.” Charles inhaled sharply. “We’re to call him Mimic. I trust the name is self-explanatory.”

“You don’t know him yet?” Alexandra asked.

“You’re the one who told us.” Charles bit his lip. “You came here specifically to find them.”

“What?” Alexandra shook her head in confusion.

“You’re the one who told me to recruit Sway.” Charles informed her. “You wanted to know her.”

“Where’s the other me?” Alexandra asked.

“At the moment?” Charles asked, closing his eyes and concentrating. “Hanging on a tree with your mother.”

“Alexandra, we should get going.” Erik swallowed hard. “I know what this means to you but I can’t stay and neither can you.”

“I don’t have my abilities because I prevented them from getting captured.” Alexandra scoffed. “I sacrificed my abilities for their safety and happiness.”

Erik gave Charles a pained look.

“I’ve never thought about doing that.” Alexandra sighed. 

Erik cleared his throat. 

“You’re right.” Alexandra smiled. “We should get going. Thank you, Charles.”

“Anything I can do to help.” Charles smiled. 

“I’m glad the school is going well.” Erik said, moving closer to Charles as Alexandra started on her portal.

“You’re so young.” Charles smiled. “She started on you earlier.”

Erik furrowed his brow in question.

Charles smiled and looked at Alexandra. “She’s bright and alluring, though it’s still a wonder she could bring you back to me after all these years.”

“All these years?” Erik asked. “You don’t look much older than when we left.”

Charles chuckled. “Thank you, old friend. I’d been worrying that my hair was growing thin.”

“What year is it?” Erik asked curiously. 

“It’s 1982 if you’ll believe it.” Charles smiled. “I met you twenty years ago.”

“It’s good to see you age well, Charles.” Erik grinned. “Something to look forward to.”

Charles gave Erik a small smile that showed mostly in his eyes, all adoration and love.

Erik indulged himself to smile back the same and nodded as Alexandra’s portal opened completely.

“Are we ready to go?” Alexandra asked, the portal opened steadily. 

Erik nodded and held her hand.

“In another life, Erik.” Charles waved.

Erik gripped Alexandra tighter as she pulled him away from Charles and into the unknown.

~

Alexandra did her best to control the landing, since she was able to focus her ability instead of letting it drop her in another dimension. She focused on Reese, Charles, and the timeline, trying to move Erik and herself to that dimension.

A portal opened and she held herself firm in a standing position as they went through it.

“Lexi!” Reese exclaimed, enveloping her into his arms.

Alexandra welcomed the hug as she moved Erik to a firmer standing inside the mansion.

Erik sighed and looked around. “It’s not so bad the third time.”

Alexandra laughed aloud.

“Third time?” Reese asked.

“I’ll tell you about it later.” Alexandra promised. “Where’s the Professor?”

Erik smiled at the title.

“Charles is on his way, I’m sure.” Reese smiled, hugging her again before checking her for any injury.

_I’m on my way down_

Charles communicated telepathically.

“How long has it been?” Alexandra asked, looking around.

“A few hours.” Reese informed them, looking at Erik suspiciously.

Alexandra laughed and turned to Erik. “See? They didn’t even have the time to miss us.”

“I aged, Alexandra.” Erik told her, trying to be stern but failing with a smile.

“Not as much as Charles.” Alexandra hit his arm playfully and he rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t go bald, did I?” Charles asked, smiling as he walked in.

“Almost.” Erik teased.

“Yes, something I’m not looking forward to.” Charles shook his head. “Where did you two end up?”

“Mid 2000’s, different universe.” Alexandra replied. “No mutants. No powers.”

“For anyone.” Erik shrugged, manipulating metal in his hands.

“We bumped into you at a coffee shop.” Alexandra smiled, giving Erik a devious look.

“And?” Charles asked, curiosity tempting him to reach into their minds for the information.

“You tried to make friends with Erik but he was upset and not much came from it.” Alexandra shrugged.

Erik sighed.

“You don’t wish to be friends with me, Erik?” Charles asked, mock-hurt. 

“I was rather focused on getting home to you instead of wasting my time with a mere shadow of who you are.” Erik rolled his eyes.

“A shadow?” Charles asked. 

“He wasn’t a telepath.” Erik informed him. “I don’t waste my time on homo sapiens.”

“So I wouldn’t be worth your time if I weren’t a mutant, is that it?” Charles asked, actually offended.

“Your eyes alone are not enough to turn my head.” Erik retorted, upset by Charles’ behavior.

“Who said anything about turning your head?” Charles asked, confused.

“Did Magneto just tell Professor X that he has pretty eyes?” Reese asked Alexandra confused. “That’s what it sounded like… kinda.”

“I just mean that if you were another human, I wouldn’t be here.” Erik told him.

“And why should you be?” Charles scoffed. “If you passed me on the street and I asked you for directions then you could, of course, tell me to fuck off if I’m just another human.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Erik sighed, the metal in his hand clenching into a tight ball.

“And what, exactly, did you mean?” Charles asked.

“Can we focus more on the pretty eyes part?” Reese asked, genuinely confused. “I don’t get that.”

“Reese.” Alexandra warned.

“No, he has a point.” Charles shrugged. “What do you think of my eyes, Erik?”

Erik turned to Alexandra with a vicious glare, one that actually made her step back.

“Your eyes are extremely blue.” Erik coughed awkwardly. “They’re attractive and enthralling.”

Charles softened a bit at the words, though he was still obviously upset. “But they’re not enough are they?”

“Enough for what, Charles?” Erik asked, turning the tables. 

“I’m not sure. What did you mean by turning your head?” Charles asked, refusing to let Erik confuse him.

“I meant, they don’t capture the entirety of who you are, or rather, his didn’t.” Erik struggled. “I saw the other Charles and he was just a man. An attractive one, for sure, but he wasn’t actually you. If he asked me to stay with him so that he could help me, I would never have accepted. He lacked your wisdom. I’m not afraid to say that it seems as though your wisdom is added to by your ability.”

“Sweet talker.” Alexandra grinned.

Charles cleared his throat. “Well then, were you at least kind to me?”

“We were perfectly civil and had a polite conversation.” Erik assured him. “But I had to get home and he had a date.”

“A date?” Charles asked.

“With Moira.” Erik smiled tightly.

“Ah.” Charles looked down in confusion but nodded. “Well, I’m glad that you made it home safely.”

Erik nodded and walked out of the room.

Charles turned to Alexandra in confusion. “That didn’t take hours did it?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But I don’t think he’d want me to share more than that. Not until he’s ready.”

“Alright.” Charles nodded. “You should change into cleaner clothes and take a shower, rest.”

“Yes, Professor.” Alexandra smiled as she walked out of the room.

“Charles.” He corrected her before turning to Reese. “What’s going on with them?”

“You’re the telepath.” Reese sighed. “You tell me.”

Charles sighed and went back to his study.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the update took a long time. I get distracted.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so there will be more, please leave comments on what you thought. I'm not new to the fandom or the characters but I still struggled a bit since it is only my second fanfic for the fandom.
> 
>  
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS I NEED THEM FOR SECURITY AND TO HELP IMPROVE MY WRITING.


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